“I think that I just enjoy seeing people happy.”

Washington, D.C. is sometimes perceived as a city where people can be a bit standoffish when meeting someone new. That is obviously of no consequence to graduating senior Justyce Moore. The metro-Atlanta native is gregarious, outgoing, and good-natured, the kind of person who, as they say in the South, “never meets a stranger.” She also genuinely enjoys helping people. When it came time for her to choose a career, those traits led her to the perfect field for her: nursing. 

“I love people,” she said. “I love being able to speak with people and have conversations with people. I like the aspect of getting to know people, getting to hear their experiences, and then being able to help them as best I can.” 

Moore will join a cadre projected to be Howard’s largest graduating class for Commencement on May 10 before heading home to Georgia to dive into her profession. She’ll immediately take the National Council Licensure Examination in hopes of becoming a registered nurse.

Family is important to Moore, and her family’s resilience originally inspired her to want to become a nurse. Her uncle was in a car accident when she was in middle school, leaving him in a vegetative state and a coma for half a year. When he returned home, the family had to quickly learn to be caregivers. Watching her family come together motivated her to make sure that she could fill a similar role if something like that ever happened again.  

Moore’s family is also what led her to Howard.

“I always knew that I wanted to go to an HBCU, and I also have a great aunt that happened to graduate from Howard as a nursing major,” she said. “So it just kind of pushed me to go to Howard knowing that I would have family here and that it's one of the top HBCUs in the nation.”

Her professors have had an enormous influence on her. She especially appreciates their candor, guiding her through the mental health aspects of dealing with sick patients and how to avoid taking that pain home each night, for example. She’s also gotten hands on experience, particularly through her maternity course, where she witnessed a live birth, a C-section, and a tubal ligation. Her journey through Howard under their tutelage, she said, molded her into the person she is. 

She is grateful to Howard for helping her get out of her comfort zone. She admits that she was tempted to stay in Georgia and attend a large university there, but the connections she has made at the Mecca have been irreplaceable, and though she and her classmates are parting company, she knows that they will remain in close contact. 

“I think I enjoyed the friendships the most, being able to connect with people from all over the U.S. and being able to find fellowship with people around my age on the track to being successful —  so just the friendships, the networking, and being around so many beautiful, Black, and educated people,” she said.

Moore appreciates honesty and the truth, values she believes to be critical in her field. Being honest, she said, builds trust with her patients and leads them to count on the promises she makes regarding their care. In her opinion, that honesty has to come with a heavy dose of empathy, however. Being able to understand what others are going through is one way that she resonates with people, and ultimately, she wants to get them to a point where they are comfortable enough with her to simply smile. 

“Just being able to be a blessing is a blessing in itself, so I get satisfaction just from seeing someone smile.”

“I think that I just enjoy seeing people happy,” she said. “Just being able to be a blessing is a blessing in itself, so I get satisfaction just from seeing someone smile.”

Moore is proud to be part of the Howard legacy. For the students who will come behind her, she has a bit of advice. Washington, D.C., can be a great place to socialize, she noted with a mischievous smile, and can certainly distract from studying. The key, she counseled, is moderation.

“I would say to the Baby Bison — party in ration,” she said with a laugh.

Photography by Cedric Mobley