Mary Ann Couch is going out of town for a vacation. She could use the breather. After all, the 34-year-old single mother of three spent the past three years working full- and part-time, studying at Penn's School of Nursing, and conducting independent research. Now that she's graduated summa cum laude, she's entitled to a break.

"I always wanted to be a nurse," Couch explained. "My grandmother was a nurse, and I really wanted to follow her. My grandmother said, 'You can take the low road or the high road.' I chose to take the high road. There was never a time when I didn't want to stop."

A West Philadelphia resident, Couch was an unemployed single mother (she and her husband had separated) receiving public assistance when she joined a program at Presbyterian Hospital to become a nurse practitioner. She had worked for several years as a nursing assistant, but wanted to further her education.

After finishing the program, she began working at Presbyterian Hospital and went to Community College of Philadelphia for a year. She transferred to Penn after obtaining a scholarship. Later, she received one of Penn's Nassan Fund Awards, which provides financial support for students interested in conducting their own research projects. She began studying breast-feeding among minority women.

"Fortunately, or unfortunately, Mary Ann was an ideal candidate to do this research because she was unable to feed one of her own children because of low birth weight," said Linda Brown, the nursing professor who served as the primary supervisor for Couch's research.

When Couch wasn't doing research, she was attending classes and hitting the books. Since she came directly from the nursing field, she was able to share her insights with her fellow students.

"The kids were great," she said. "I learned from them, and I hope they learned from me, from my experience at hospital clinics. I could help them out with understanding certain things and offer a different perspective."

Not many people could manage to be a worker/mother/student. Couch did--with great success. While at Penn, she was elected to Sigma Theta Tau, an international nursing honor society, and served as president of the Golden Key National Honor Society, an organization she reactivated at the University. She also became a member of the Onyx Honor Society for the University's African-American students.

How does Couch explain her amazing accomplishments? "I don't know--a lot of caffeine, I guess," she said jokingly.

"I had a big support system," she quickly added, her tone turning serious. "My family and kids help a lot, with chores like washing and dinner." Her children are Cherry, 16, Christopher, 13, and Kevin, 8. Later this summer, Couch and her fiancé, James W. Jones Jr., will marry.

"Definitely determination is part of her makeup," Brown noted. "When she first came here, she thought, 'Can I do it at Penn?' Think about it --she was working as a nurse, going to school and raising three great kids. I think that's really tough. I don't think I would have gotten that GPA if it were me."

Before you start sending Couch congratulatory cards for graduating with honors, however, send more coffee instead. She starts graduate school next fall. She received a $167,000 grant from the National Institute of Nursing Research (a division of the National Institute of Health), which will help pay for her studies and field work.

Couch's grant is to study the different cultural attitudes of minority women towards breast-feeding. "It's a new phase in her career, and it's really exciting," said nursing professor Janet Deatrick, Couch's secondary supervisor. "I'm happy I can be a part of it. Mary Ann's research will help us identify how nurses can effectively encourage and help women from different cultures and ethnic backgrounds successfully breast-feed their babies."

Return to Compass Features for May 21/28, 1996