Wichita teen graduating from high school and college

WICHITA, Kan. (KSNW) — One Wichita teen is getting a step ahead of the game.

Kylie Levalley is counting down the days until graduation from both high school and college.

“I will graduate on May 16 from WSU Tech and then May 17 from North,” Levalley says.

Levalley has worked at a hospital for the past year.

“I probably walk like five miles a day,” Levalley says.

Levalley works 12 hours shifts as a nurse’s aide every other weekend. She started when she was only 16.

“Everyone is always so surprised when I tell them how young I am,” Levalley says. “But to me, it’s just experience, and to me, like this is what I want to do, so might as well start early.”

She is finishing high school while getting a jump start on her nursing career.

“I’m a very caring person, like I love people. And so being able to be here at their bedside and be there when they need help at their lowest like that’s what keeps me going. That’s why I chose nursing,” Levalley says.

In May, she will graduate from WSU Tech with a certificate as a patient care tech. Less than 24 hours later, she will graduate from Wichita North High School with 76 college credits, as she was in the BioMed Program.

“I cut off a year and a half of my nursing undergrad. So, I only have two and a half years, one semester of undergrad and then two years of the nursing program. So I’ll graduate right before I turn 21,” Levalley says.

Levalley is already making a difference in the hospital.

“She’s a great aid, and I know when she’s working with me on a team that my patients are going to be taken care of,” Ascension Via Christi Registered Nurse Nita Bugner says.

Levalley says she wants her experience to help others.

“They can do it. If they really put their minds to it, they can do it,” Levalley says.

Levalley plans on finishing her undergrad at Wichita State University.