by Hanna Singh
A nurse, mother, and friend, Sara Cagle has grown from a young student into a successful healthcare professional.
Balancing motherhood, studies, and full-time jobs, the Ruston native put herself through nursing school to pursue a career where she can provide for her family while also helping others like she always dreamed.
From a young age, Sara knew that she wanted to be a nurse in order to help others get through the hard times and to provide care; a profession that takes a special kind of dedication.
“I was around 12 years old when I started spending my summers at Tech with my grandmother, who was an administrative assistant in the Division of Nursing at the time,” Sara said. “I was in awe of it all, the teachers, the classrooms, all the cool nurse things. It didn’t take me long to realize I wanted to be a nurse, and I wanted to go to Tech to do it.”
In 2015, Sara started her freshman year at Louisiana Tech, pursuing a nursing degree like she had always wanted. But life happens, like it does for anyone. With a one-year-old son and a new baby girl on the way, Sara knew that her role as a mother needed to take priority over school for the time. She withdrew from Tech in early 2017, making a commitment to providing for her babies in another way.
Sara felt that the odds were stacked against her as a teen mother in school and decided that she was alright with stepping away from the challenge. Yet, she still felt that deep down she wanted to be a nurse. She knew she had a calling for helping others.
In 2021, Sara was navigating a new season of life. With three children post-divorce, she had moved to Ruston to balance a life with a full-time job, co-parenting and a busy after-school sports schedule. Sara recognized that the time had come that if she wanted to give herself and her children the life they deserved, she had to make a change.
So, she worked even harder, saved money and in February of 2023 she re-applied to Louisiana Tech. She got accepted and with the help of the director of the nursing program, Sara put together a game plan. The challenge was steep, with Sara facing the requirement of earning straight A’s on all of her remaining prerequisites to be eligible for the nursing program. But she buckled up and hung on for the ride.
Sara took on a full course load, aced her classes and applied for the nursing program in 2024. From that point forward, she put in every ounce of effort to succeed in nursing school while still being present with her children.
“In those next seven quarters, I spent a lot of my time at kid’s softball tournaments, basketball games, cheer camps with my notes pulled up on my phone squeezing in all the moments of studying I could while still being a present mom,” Sara said. “I spent many hours in the carline with my iPad open to lecture notes, listening to nursing podcasts while at the gym. Typically, I would get my kids to bed and stay up until around midnight to look over notes and set my alarms for 4 a.m. the next morning so that I could review one last time before getting myself and my kids ready.
“There were a lot of DoorDash dinners involved for sure. It wasn’t unusual to have to drive an hour or more to clinical sites, so many times my dad (aka Papaw’s Taxi Service) would come get kids ready for school, handle drop off and pick up, and have everybody fed by the time I got home. My neighbors, the Bennetts, were always so helpful and also helped get kids from school and hang out with them until I got out of clinicals, and always making sure I was okay and encouraging me when I was exhausted.”
With the help of her village, Sara climbed the ladder step-by-step, getting closer every day to her dream. Her father, Jim Liner, commended his daughter’s commitments and shared his feelings on her growth.
“Sara is on the right track, she’s worked so hard and is doing great things,” Liner said. “I really am just so proud of her.”
A little over half-way through nursing school, Sara began working at St. Francis in Monroe as a nurse tech. After being quickly assigned to the ICU, she was terrified at the prospect of working in critical care in her first week. Though it didn’t take her long to fall in love with the position. Following graduation, Sara has passed the NCLEX and become a licensed registered nurse. Sara is officially beginning her career as a full-time ICU nurse at St. Francis, where she continues to push herself toward even more goals for the future.
“I have a dream of pursuing flight nursing at some point in the future,” Sara said. “Something I value so much is getting to know a patient and their family and really connect with them. I feel like in these settings you really do see people on what might be the worst day of their life, and I always want to be a person that they can count on and trust to help them through it. Whether that includes my skills and knowledge as a nurse or just listening and sitting with them.”
With two years in the nursing program behind her, Sara looks back and feels like it happened in the blink of an eye. While meeting life-long friends in the program, they built a family of girls who supported each other through thick and thin. From bible studies and prayer to late-night studies and group work, Sara’s colleagues became more like sisters. One of her closest friends from school, Brittney Whitlock, shared how Sara touched her life during their time together.
“Sara was one of my first friends in nursing school and I truly believe the Lord knew I needed her,” Whitlock said. “She’s become one of my truest and dearest friends. She is an incredible example of strength and dedication. While academics may seem to come easy for her, she somehow made balancing motherhood and nursing school look easy.
“But I know firsthand how hard she’s worked as a single mom to get here. The Lord truly blessed her with both intelligence and a compassionate heart. She’s one of the most competent and compassionate nurses I know, and her patients will be exceptionally well cared for. I’m so excited for her future and for her sweet kids.”
Sara also credited the nursing school staff and teachers for supporting her through her educational journey. She specifically recalled a time after taking the NCLEX that she reached out to Director of the Nursing Program, Dr. McVay, with anxiety about her results. Her worries faded away as her instructor covered her with instant prayer and assurance.
“I owe so much to my teachers throughout this program,” Sara said. “They are so genuine in the way they care about you and want you to succeed, and also the most knowledgeable people I know. You’re more than a name on a class roster to them. They always made it a point to ask how I was, how my kids were doing, you name it.”
Now Sara continues to treat each patient with the kind of understanding and patience she would with her own children. After years of hard work, commitment, and faith, she is doing what she loves and what she was meant to do. Her neighbor, and grandmother figure to her children, Debbie Bennett, highlighted what makes Sara so caring.
“She is a beautiful person inside and out,” Bennett said. “She is such a wonderful mother to her children, and she always puts them first. She’s such a sweet and caring person, becoming an RN is her calling. She’s such a loving and nurturing mother and cares deeply about others as well. She deserves the very best life has to offer and I’m so very proud of her.”
Above all her accomplishments, Sara said most importantly she has done this for her kids. She wanted to show them that anything was possible, and how sometimes the only thing holding you back from your dreams is yourself. She also believes that it is an important lesson in self-sufficiency for her daughters to see that it is realistic to be a successful single woman.
“I think that one stuck, because my 8-year-old now sings the “Reba” theme song anytime I walk in her room,” Sara said. “Now, my kids are about to be 10, 9, and 6 – all thriving in school, and so glad they don’t have to do homework at the table with mom and her “gross nursing notes” anymore”
Now she is able to look back on those hard times, those challenges, and any hesitations, knowing that she had it in her all along. She did it for her kids, for her patients and for herself.
