Man Graduates with Nursing Degree from University where he worked as a CLEANER

On Monday, a 29-year-old man graduated from New York University’s Langone Tisch Hospital with a degree in nursing, the same University where he started out as a cleaner.

After Frank Baez moved from the Dominican Republic to New York City with his mother at the age of 15, he stepped up to help his family financially, becoming a janitor at New York University’s Langone Tisch Hospital.

Frank Baez always watched the nurses with patients as they cared for them while he was working as a janitor and was inspired to become a nurse too. The 29-year-old graduate now plans to be a critical care nurse in an intensive care unit.

Speaking with Good Morning America, Baez said:

“I could barely speak English at the time when I started working at NYU. Now I reflect on it and I feel very proud of how much I accomplished.”

He said he eventually left his job as a janitor to complete his bachelor’s degree at Hunter College then returned to NYU and completed the accelerated program at the Rory Meyers College of Nursing in 15 months. Baez is the first person in his family to graduate from college.

He said: “There were times I doubted myself, but then I felt that I wanted to do something more for myself, that I deserved better, that I wanted to continue to move forward and grow and go on with my life. What I did was, I never gave up.”