Luke North is the PCC Southwest 2026 President’s Distinguished Scholar. As a graduate of the associate degree in nursing program, he is entering a profession that enables him to impact lives every day. And while nursing is a job that allows you to work just about anywhere, it appealed to him because he won’t have to leave home.
As a husband with a 3-year-old son and 1-year-old daughter, family time is Luke’s priority, and when it comes to some of his favorite activities like hunting, fishing and exercising, it’s hard to beat southwestern Colorado as a backdrop. He said knowing that these important aspects of his life would still be close by while he worked through such a challenging program made nursing, and PCC, the right choice.
Now he will be able to start his career as part of a 12-month graduate residency program at Mercy Hospital in Durango, continuing to serve the community on a new level. He’s drawn to the fast-paced environment of the emergency department, where he can put his skills to use with a broad range of patients. He wants to continue developing his emergency medicine knowledge and earn his bachelor’s degree in nursing to become a trusted resource for both patients and colleagues.
