Karla Moody graduated from DeKalb College’s nursing program in 1990. (Photo by Louie Favorite)

Karla Moody was a young mom with two children and a husband who was starting his own construction business when she began nursing school in 1988 at DeKalb College, which later became Georgia Perimeter College. With the support of her husband, Dave, she graduated as a registered nurse in 1990.

Moody found her niche in hospice nursing, working weekend nights, and enjoyed a successful career for 20 years before retiring in 2011.

Recently, Dave Moody recognized his wife’s passion for nursing, surprising her by bestowing the Georgia Perimeter College Foundation with a $10,500 endowment for a GPC nursing scholarship in her honor.

The Karla Lynn Moody Scholarship in Nursing endowment is among the largest for a nursing scholarship at GPC. The endowment will provide a $500 annual scholarship for a full-time African American or Native American student—age 30 or older—who is new to the field of nursing and has financial need.

Moody recalls how well her college nursing instructors prepared her for the nursing field.

“We were really respected as graduates of the program,” she recalls.

Moody’s love of nursing remains strong.

“I tell every young person searching for a career that nursing is the best field in the world,” she says.

For more information, please visit the GPC Foundation website.