Travis Herbst

In high school, Travis Herbst played football, focused little on his studies, got poor grades and never took the SATs as he had no plans to attend college. As a garbage collector, however, he soon came to realize that what he had was a job and not a career. His dream was to be a nurse, something his grandmother, “Nana,” had always encouraged him to pursue.

“Watching the older guys at work breaking their backs, I realized I needed to so something else. It just hit me really hard that I can’t pick up garbage my whole life,” says Herbst, of Parsippany.

When he enrolled at County College of Morris (CCM) and took the required anatomy and physiology (A&P) course, however, he ended up withdrawing from the class to avoid receiving an F. He changed his major to criminal justice and earned his associate degree. But that was not his dream. What to do? While many might have settled, not Herbst. He took the bold step of enrolling again at CCM to take A&P again.

“I thought, ‘Let me give A&P another chance. What did I have to lose,’” he recalls. “I got an A.” And he was on his way – on his way to becoming such a successful student he was inducted into Alpha Delta Nu, the nursing honor society.

He credits the quality teaching and the professors at CCM for helping him to not only to reach for his dream but to excel. He further notes that CCM provided him with the flexibility to take classes in the late afternoons and evenings so he could continue to work as he pursued his degree.

Now as a CCM graduate for the second time, he is enrolled in the BSN program at Saint Elizabeth University. A CCM professor also helped to get him his first nursing position in the telemetry unit at St. Clare’s in Dover.

“I had such an awesome experience at CCM. Every professor I came into contact with was great and concerned about my success, and my classmates in the nursing program were so helpful as we worked together to study for exams and preparing for clinical,” says Herbst. “I highly recommend CCM.”