Mother, daughter earn diplomas together

By Bob Stuart

Published: May 10, 2008

WEYERS CAVE – Melissa Keith and her daughter, Meghan, of Stuarts Draft, shared a significant milestone on Saturday: their respective graduations from Blue Ridge Community College.
Meghan earned an associate degree in arts and sciences and will transfer to Bridgewater College in the fall. Melissa received a nursing degree and will soon work at the University of Virginia Medical Center in Charlottesville.
“I’m really excited we got to graduate together,” said Meghan, who plans to become a physician.
She said she was particularly happy for her mother, “who has been in school a long, long time.”
“She was so busy raising us as children,” said Meghan, who has a 15-year-old brother.
Melissa Keith estimates she has spent close to a decade obtaining her nursing degree.
“Ever since I was a little girl I wanted to be a nurse,” she said. She hopes to work in the intensive care unit at the U.Va. Medical Center.
In addition to numerous family members who traveled from Tennessee and California, there was husband and father, Chris Keith.
Chris, a nursing supervisor at U.Va., said his wife has always had “a sense of giving back,” but said she chose to raise the family before embarking on a career.
The ultimate goal for Chris and Melissa is an ambitious but achievable one.
“We want to get our master’s degrees in nursing and become nurse educators,” he said. “Today is one more step in the journey.”