Dylan Dixon always knew he wanted to be a nurse.
Having been in and out of hospitals with his brother who has cerebral palsy, autism and renal failure, he saw from a young age the care, passion and expertise of those in the medical field. For Dixon, being a nurse is his way of giving back to all the people who helped get his brother where he is today.
Dixon enrolled at a four-year university after graduating from high school to pursue nursing, but says that at the time he didn’t take it seriously and dropped out. Afterward, he tried pursuing culinary and then sales, but still didn’t feel fulfilled.
The driving factor that led him to Piedmont Community College’s (PCC) nursing program was caring for his mom for six months as she underwent tests and surgery for epilepsy. Dixon recalled the countless times he didn’t understand the terminology doctors were using as they talked with him about his mom.
After that experience, he knew it was time to finally pursue his career in nursing.
Dixon completed the Nurse Aide program at PCC and was hired as a full-time Nurse Assistant at Duke Regional Hospital. He started PCC’s Associate Degree Nursing program as part of the evening/weekend cohort on the Caswell County Campus in January 2026 and is on track to graduate December 2027.
“I keep telling myself it’s going to pay off in the end,” Dixon said. “Whenever I started actually working in the hospital, it instantly felt like the right place. It’s making me realize I’m doing the right thing by going back to school.”
Unlike his first time in college, Dixon has excelled in his first semester of nursing school, even being inducted into Phi Theta Kappa (PTK), an international honor society for students with a cumulative grade point average of 3.5 or higher.
Dixon is grateful to PCC’s nursing faculty for their help and support as he works towards his goal of becoming a pediatric surgery scrub nurse one day.
“At PCC, you don’t feel just like another student,” Dixon said. “You actively feel like there are people who care about you and want to see you succeed.”
When asked what advice he would give to others thinking about going back to college, Dixon said, “You’re never going to kick yourself for not doing it. It’s worth it. It’s rewarding. Not once have I thought I shouldn’t have gone back.”
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