Air Force veteran finds new home with MEPN program
Tery’ance Horace traded wings for scrubs and a fresh career at the U of A College of Nursing through an accelerated program designed for career-changers seeking to become an RN.
U.S. Air Force veteran Tery’ance Horace spent nearly 10 years in the military before deciding to go back to school to join another field of service, nursing.
Photo by Noelle Haro-Gomez, U of A Health Sciences Office of Communications
Tery’ance Horace knows a thing or two about teamwork.
After graduating from the University of Arizona College of Nursing, Horace plans to serve in trauma or the emergency department before pursuing a Doctor of Nursing Practice degree.
Photo by Noelle Haro-Gomez, U of A Health Sciences Office of Communications
As one of 10 kids, a former collegiate football player and an Air Force veteran, Horace has been part of a squad his entire life.
Now, as part of the University of Arizona College of Nursing’s Master of Science – Entry to the Profession of Nursing program, Horace has a new crew — nontraditional students who have switched careers or schooling, all on the same fast track toward a degree in just 15 months.
“It's still close-knit,” Horace said. “Everyone’s very nice, and we’re all going through the same struggles.”
Finding his footing
After almost a decade in the military, Horace felt a little lost when he started his Bachelor of Science degree in care, health and society at the U of A College of Social and Behavioral Sciences School of Sociology.
“I felt like the old man on campus, and I didn’t have anyone to relate to,” said Horace, who medically retired as a staff sergeant from the Air Force in 2023 due to a hip issue.
A fellow vet in Horace’s statistics class asked if he’d ever checked out the U of A Veterans Education and Transition Services Military-Connected Student Centers. That tip turned out to be a game-changer.
Horace met with Blaze L. Smith, director of VETS and ROTC programs.
“He’s one of the best mentors I’ve ever had,” said Horace, who credited Smith and the program for helping him feel settled and make genuine connections.
Now Horace works 20 hours a week at the VETS center at the Health Sciences library, supporting other veterans in the thick of college life, whether it’s offering tips and tricks to understanding physiology or just lending support to someone who needs it, Smith said.
“He has a very important superpower in his ability to bring joy to a whole room, and he very much does every time he enters one,” Smith said. “Tery’ance is a wholly positive force. He is quick to lend a hand and is a really inspiring teacher, helping to boost confidence and find digestible ways for fellow students to understand materials.”
A team player
Horace grew up in Groveton, Texas, deep in the eastern part of the state, the gateway to Davy Crockett National Forest. One of a blended family of 10, Horace was in second grade when his parents took in six foster children, all brothers.
“It was very chaotic and easy to get lost,” Horace said with a chuckle.
Horace loved the camaraderie of the Air Force and was a maintenance crew chief on the A-10 Thunderbolt II as well as part of a demonstration team that traveled the country for air shows.
Photo courtesy of Tery’ance Horace
His parents expected good grades. Horace not only delivered, but he also scored a scholarship to play football at East Texas Baptist University. A torn meniscus in his third game sidelined him during his freshman year. He ended up transferring to another school to be closer to his tight-knit family. But without a scholarship to pay the bills, going through the Texas Department of Criminal Justice seemed like a better option.
“My hometown had more cows than people, so you either left to work in the oil field or you worked in a correctional facility,” Horace said.
It didn’t take long before Horace was ready for something different, and he landed in the Air Force, working as a maintenance crew chief on the A-10 Thunderbolt II, aka the Warthog, an attack aircraft designed to provide close air support for ground forces.
Based at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Horace was deployed overseas during the Syrian civil war when U.S. forces provided support to Syrian Democratic Forces. It was a stressful, dangerous seven months in Turkey.
“I remember getting woken up by surface-to-air missiles that were right next to our living quarters,” Horace said. “They shook the whole place.”
Drones and bombs were a constant threat. Horace recalled that once, a man with a rocket launcher took aim from outside the base’s gate.
Much less harrowing was Horace’s time on the A-10 demonstration team, traveling to air shows across the country. What Horace loved most about his time in the Air Force was the same thing that drew him to football — the camaraderie.
“There’s this insurmountable task that you had to do, but you’re going through it with other people, and, in a way, you get trauma-bonded with these people,” Horace said.
It’s working together toward a common goal — to provide people with compassionate health care — that Horace also loves about nursing.
New career, new impact
Horace wasted no time jumping into the MEPN program as soon as he earned his undergraduate degree last May.
The nursing program is geared toward those who have a Bachelor of Science degree in another area but want to transition to a career as a registered nurse. The curriculum is accelerated, with a heavy emphasis on hands-on clinical training right off the bat. Horace said his first semester as a nursing student felt a lot like basic training.
Horace, pictured here in 2017 at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base after his deployment to Turkey, compared his intensive first semester in the MEPN program to the demands of military basic training.
Photo courtesy of Tery’ance Horace
“The information is very, very high speed, and they’re expecting a lot out of you,” he said. “But the numbers speak for themselves. The College of Nursing knows what it’s doing.”
Horace pointed to the college’s impressive statistics when it comes to the National Council Licensure Examination. According to the College of Nursing, it has a more than 90% pass rate for first-timers on the standardized test for nursing graduates to ensure their ability to practice.
After he graduates in the fall of 2026, Horace figures he’ll work either in trauma or the emergency department before getting his Doctor of Nursing Practice. He believes in making a difference by helping others.
“Providing medical care was the best way I thought I could do that,” Horace said. “I get my satisfaction from making others feel better or giving to others.”
Just as the military is a job of service, so too is nursing. Both fields share a lot of similarities when it comes to critical thinking and diagnostic care, Horace said. But the A-10 isn’t anywhere near as intricate as human anatomy.
“Granted, aircraft are complicated, but the human body …” Horace exhaled and shook his head. “There are so many processes that overlap. Just one thing could make a whole different disease process, which is wild. All the systems are linked to each other. It's amazing, but at the same time terrifying.”