‘The Sky’s the Limit’: A Nurse’s Journey Back to the Career She Loves
Angel Riley completed Purdue Global’s RN-to-BSN program and is already moving into a new role in her career. (Purdue Global photo/Kelsey Lefever)
How earning a BSN from Purdue Global helped Angel Riley advance her career in healthcare
Angel Riley is not one to back down. Not even from bull sharks.
She tells one of her life’s most epic stories by first explaining that she’s terrified of sharks. So naturally, she decided to swim with them during a family vacation — although when faced with the decision to swim inside the protection of a cage or not, she chose the cage.
Once the boat was already out to sea, however, the director announced they’d left the cages behind. Would anyone like to back out?
Some did. Riley did not.
And that’s how she found herself in open water with one of the ocean’s most aggressive predators — on purpose.
“We drove like 3 1/2 hours to get there from where we were vacationing in Fort Myers — I wasn’t backing out!” she says with a laugh. “There have been a whole lot of other things in life that tried to take me out but didn’t. The sharks didn’t end up scaring me too much.”
It’s a fitting illustration of who Riley is: bold and unwilling to let fear make decisions for her.
Today, Riley turns that determination toward advancing her career. She recently graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) from Purdue Global, which she celebrated on Purdue University’s campus in West Lafayette, Indiana.
BS nursing ’26
Finding her way back to nursing
Riley’s journey to that moment began years earlier as a young mother searching for stability and opportunity, when she enrolled in a licensed practical nursing (LPN) program — becoming the first person in her family to go to college. Then, she began building a nursing career that could support her growing family.
After the birth of her second daughter, Riley returned to school and earned her associate degree and registered nurse (RN) licensure, continuing to move forward even as life became more difficult. Over time, a series of personal hardships pulled her away from nursing and eventually led to addiction, legal trouble and time in prison.
The experience forced a reckoning.
“That’s when I realized, hey, this isn’t a joke. This is my life,” she says. “I realized how precious everything is.”
It took years, continuing education hours and a stretch with only a probationary nursing license, but Riley rebuilt the career she loved and stepped into leadership roles in long-term care, eventually serving as a staff development coordinator.
But still, she wanted to keep growing.
Family inspiration and a BSN
Years later, it was her daughter — the one who inspired her career in the first place — who would push her forward once again.
Riley’s daughter graduated from Purdue University. Watching her receive her diploma from an institution respected worldwide led Riley to dream of the Purdue name on her own diploma.
“On both sides of my family, I was the first and only one to go to college,” she says. “But my daughter was the first to go to a university and get her bachelor’s degree. She inspired me. I wanted one, too.”
As a nurse balancing leadership, patient care and the mental demands of healthcare work, Riley needed a flexible pathway that would allow her to continue advancing her education. She found that opportunity through Purdue Global’s RN-to-BSN program.
For Riley, earning a BSN was about more than adding another credential. She wanted an opportunity to strengthen her leadership skills, expand her opportunities and build toward long-term goals in advanced nursing practice.
She credits the flexibility of online learning and faculty support for helping her stay focused when life continued to throw curveballs — including her husband’s open-heart surgery.
“The professors were very supportive,” she says. “Whenever I was in the hospital with him prior to the surgery, and I was just exhausted and needed to sleep, they gave me extensions on assignments. I was just going through it, and they were flexible when I needed it.”
It paid off. Even before graduation, she’d already accepted a new position — an advancement that will also put her back into direct patient care, which is her favorite part of the job.
“I love the challenge and excitement of new things. When it comes to patient health, there’s always a puzzle to solve. Meeting those challenges to help people — that’s what fulfills me,” she says.
Today, when she thinks of the future, she sees nothing but possibility.
“The sky’s the limit,” she says. “And the best is yet to come.”