Student of the Year Found Motivation Through Family, Grief

By Luciana Chavez

Taiquanijanique Bess has aligned herself with a group of women who, in life and from the great beyond, are steering her to her professional calling.

The cousin who enrolled at Merced College before her. The mother who is her guiding light. The sister who died in 2022.

Bess’s family members have helped spur a metamorphosis that saw this young mother of seven, who felt stuck in 2023, become the Merced College Student of the Year in 2026.

“I wish I could have gone to college sooner, but it’s my story,” she said, “and better late than never.”

Bess, 32, just graduated with AA degrees in Social & Behavioral Sciences, Health Sciences, and Psychology, and completed her RN and LVN prerequisites this spring. She’ll continue taking classes while studying to take the Test of Essential Academic Skills (TEAS) exam this fall and preparing nursing school applications.

“For me to be able to get to school every day and do this with the 18-, 19-year-olds, yes, I have shocked myself a little bit,” Bess said. “I can’t even put words to what I’ve been through. I’m really proud of myself. I’m thankful to Merced College for helping me get to this place.”

She began her journey in Spring 2024, feeling unprepared for college-level STEM courses some 13 years after the last time she sat in a classroom.

But Bess, often with 4-year-old daughter E’LayJah on her hip, sought as much one-on-one time with Chemistry Professor Denisha Dawson and Biology Professor Cary Coburn as she could. Her vigilance helped her battle insecurity.

“What sets Taiquanijanique apart is her unwavering commitment to excellence,” Coburn and Dawson wrote in their nomination of Bess for Student of the Month earlier in the academic year. “Despite significant personal challenges, she consistently sought support, used office hours, and maximized every learning opportunity. She often stayed late in the lab and requested prompt grading to address her performance anxieties. She constantly aimed to improve, even when doing well.”

Bess needed a push to even get on the Merced College campus in the first place. Her first child Brandon, whom she had at age 14, motivated her to finish high school on time, against all odds and expectations.

Then she had a long break from school. She was finally ready for the next step after watching her cousin Geniquewa Shaw, herself now a mother of four, enroll at Merced College in 2023.

“She reminded me that it is not about how long it takes, but about finishing,” Bess said. “That belief has helped me overcome doubt and step into my potential.”

Shaw is also working to become a nurse. The two cousins lean on each other.

When asked how she managed to care for seven children, do school drop-off and pick-up, study, and go to her own classes, Bess said she had to trust in God’s grace to see her through the toughest times.

“I would think, ‘I’m almost there, almost there, too late to stop now,’” she said.

She wasn’t alone at school or in her home life.

Bess’s mother Benita Jetton has been her secret weapon. Jetton casts such a long shadow because she became a registered nurse 17 years ago. She is Bess’s hero and mentor.

“I see my mom living her own dreams, and it keeps me motivated,” Bess said. “It reminds me every day why I’m on this path.”

Jetton started as an RN in a hospital and now works as a school nurse at Kirk Elementary in Fresno.

“There’s something about the way my mom works, how much compassion she has for patients,” Bess said. “The way people react to her, I just thought she had a lot of friends. No, it was that she helped her patients so much. She’s so good at connecting to them. I’ve always wanted to help others like that.”

Bess might have toyed with the idea of nursing growing up. But her ambition to become an RN materialized in a real way after her beloved sister Kalia Bess died in a tragic car accident on Sept. 15, 2022.

It took about a year for Bess to emerge from the darkness of that loss.

Remembering that Kalia died just weeks from finishing her nursing school prerequisites at Fresno State has made Bess’s own goals burn more urgently inside her.

“I carry that with me every day,” she said. “I can turn my pain into purpose. It gave me the push I needed to start moving forward.”

Bess now focuses on improving the future for herself and her four boys and three girls, who range in age from 9 months to 17 years. She wants to eventually serve as an OB nurse in postpartum care.

“I am not just doing this for myself,” Bess said. “I am doing it for my children, to show them that no matter where you start or what challenges you face, you can always rise and pursue your dreams.”

Bess has a year to work and prepare her applications for nursing school at Merced College, Fresno State and Cal State Stanislaus. She is waiting for her cousin to finish her own studies at Merced College so they can move on to nursing school together to continue to support and push each other.

Bess added, “My story is still being written, but I hope it shows others that it is never too late to follow your purpose.”