Meet Jacob

Making the Grade in Nursing

Jacob Hoffmaster is a study in pursuing a passion

Jacob Hoffmaster got serious when it mattered.

“I had a hospital stay when I was 17 or 18,” he said. “I remember the way the nurses made me feel when I was staying there and thinking I would love to be able to make people’s days better and make them feel that, in their time of illness, they are not alone.”

Though Hoffmaster, 23, didn’t have the best grades in high school, a vision for his future began taking shape. He called on family members who were nurses and asked to shadow them at work. He got a job as a nursing assistant at Fairview Hospital. These experiences, combined with the robust health care industry in Northeast Ohio, confirmed that nursing was the field for him.

It was time to make it real.

“Because of my grades, I didn’t think it was a good idea to go to a four-year school. My family didn’t have a big budget, and I didn’t want to accumulate a lot of debt,” Hoffmaster said.

When he graduated from Brunswick High School, the solution was right in front of him. The Brunswick University Center at Cuyahoga Community College (Tri-C®) is a stone’s throw from BHS. He enrolled at Tri-C and began knocking out his prerequisites.

“The Brunswick University Center was five minutes from my house,” Hoffmaster said. “It was also a place where a lot of my friends attended after they graduated.”

He kept his job at Fairview Hospital while pursuing his degree. He worked a couple of days a week and hit the books on the others.

“I enjoyed the content of the courses. I loved learning about diseases, illnesses and medication. It all interested me. It wasn’t easy, but I liked it,” Hoffmaster said.

Did his grades improve?

“Oh, yes,” he said.

Hoffmaster, who now lives in Strongsville, graduated from Tri-C in 2022. He chose to stay at Fairview Hospital, where he is now a registered nurse. He’s been on the medical-surgical floor since he started as a nursing assistant. Hoffmaster said it felt like a family — not unlike his time at Tri-C.

“Getting up early in the morning to go to class was always difficult, but I always felt like I was going to class to see another family. Everybody would help each other. There was teamwork,” Hoffmaster said.

He graduated with no debt and said he received a top-notch, hands-on education.

“I would put the Tri-C student up against a student from any other college, at least in nursing,” he said. “Tri-C does an excellent job educating its students.”

Hoffmaster is now working on his bachelor’s degree and plans to go on to earn a master’s degree.

“I love where I work, and I have that drive for education now,” he said.