Carrie Grandidier never set out to change lives in the world of medicine. In fact, when she graduated from Mount Olive High School, she was set on a career in fashion merchandising. But life, as it so often does, had other plans.

“I spent my whole childhood in the same building, surrounded by people I knew,” Carrie recalls. “When I went off to Eastern Illinois University for fashion merchandising, I loved it—but coming from such a close-knit community, I think I underestimated how much that mattered to me. Being two hours away from home just felt… different.”

After a year at Eastern, Carrie made the difficult decision to come back home. With no fashion program at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, she was forced to reevaluate what she truly wanted. The answer, it turned out, had been around her all along.

“My mom was a nurse. My aunt was a nurse. I had grown up surrounded by their stories, their experiences,” she says. “I’d also worked as a lifeguard and had some basic first aid training. None of it seemed like a big deal at the time, but when I needed to choose a new direction, nursing just made sense.”

It turned out to be a life-changing decision. After earning her nursing degree from SIUE, Carrie was hired at Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis—a world-class medical center with some of the most cutting-edge care in the country. She landed in the Gynecologic Oncology Unit, a specialty she hadn’t even known existed in nursing school.

“I was interested in women’s health and in oncology, but I didn’t realize there was a way to do both,” Carrie explains. “It was a perfect fit. I got to work with strong, resilient women battling some of the hardest fights of their lives. It was emotional, intense, and deeply rewarding.”

For years, Carrie built her career in oncology, moving from inpatient care to chemotherapy infusion, where she administered treatments to cancer patients in an outpatient setting. Later, she transitioned into clinical research, helping patients access new treatments and experimental therapies.

“You don’t grow up in a small town expecting to be on the cutting edge of cancer research,” she says. “But there I was, working on clinical trials, helping people fight for more time with their families.”

Through it all, the work was heavy—too heavy at times. Oncology nursing isn’t just about treatment; it’s about holding hands through diagnoses, about being present in the moments when medicine isn’t enough. “I was 23, surrounded by people facing the hardest battles of their lives,” she says. “You love your patients, you lose your patients—it’s a tough thing to carry.”

But Carrie’s career took yet another turn when she moved to Decatur, Illinois, and found herself in an entirely new branch of medicine: organ transplantation. Today, she works as a kidney, pancreas, and liver transplant coordinator, helping patients navigate the complex journey of receiving lifesaving organ donations.

“I never expected to be in this field, but I absolutely love it,” she says. “In oncology, I often saw the hardest endings. In transplant, I see people getting a second chance at life.”

Though she now works remotely in her coordinator role, she still picks up shifts at the hospital to stay connected to direct patient care. “I love the logistics and advocacy of my current job, but there’s something about being in the hospital, about working face-to-face with patients, that keeps me grounded,” she explains.

Through all of her career shifts, one thing has remained constant: the values she learned in Mount Olive.

“Growing up in a small town, you might feel like you’re limited in what you can do, but that’s not true,” Carrie says. “I’ve lived in St. Louis. I’ve worked for one of the biggest hospitals in the Midwest. I’ve helped people through the scariest moments of their lives. And it all started in a town with one school building.”

Her advice to today’s Mount Olive students? “Don’t let the size of your hometown define the size of your dreams,” she says. “You can do anything, go anywhere—but no matter where life takes you, the values of community, hard work, and resilience will always stay with you.”