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After seeing both her parents deal with life-threatening health issues, Kali Holt knew she wanted to go into health care. 

Fortunately, her mother set a “wonderful example” for her to follow. 

As a nurse for nearly two decades herself, Eva Jessee, Holt’s mom, had dedicated her life to service, including serving in the military during Operation Desert Storm. But days prior to graduating with her licensed practical nurse degree, she gave birth and went into postpartum cardiomyopathy, a rare form of heart failure.  

“She was in full blown heart failure with 20% of her heart working,” said Holt. “And then previous to that, my dad was seriously injured after being hit head-on by another driver under the influence of drugs.

“Both fortunately and unfortunately, as the oldest daughter, I had a front row seat to what my mom and dad were going through, and I wanted to be able to know how to take care of my family and follow in her footsteps,” said Holt. 

It wasn’t long after she earned her licensed practical nurse degree that she approached her mom with a “crazy” idea.

“I said, ‘You’re an LPN. I’m an LPN. Why don’t we be a little crazy and get our bachelor’s degrees together?’” Holt said. 

And that they did, with both graduating from East Tennessee State University’s College of Nursing together in fall of 2022.  

One degree, however, wasn’t enough. 

Passionate about forensic nursing and teaching, both enrolled in ETSU’s family nurse practitioner master’s program, beginning the next chapter of their journey together in the fall of 2023.  

Jessee said as a parent, she’s always tried to encourage her children to do whatever they wanted in life, something she credits to their faith. 

“I set a high bar because I believe I am raising world-changers,” said Jessee. “I have always told them they’re not average children, and that God created them with a plan and purpose.

“And for me, this is about getting as much education as I can get, and letting my children know that you’re never too old to go back to school – never too old to start your life over again,” Jessee continued. “It’s been a surreal journey getting to experience this with Kali.” 

In addition to their coursework, both are sexual assault nurse examiners (SANE) and teach as adjunct professors in the ETSU College of Nursing. It’s that experience and passion that earned them an opportunity to help develop a postmortem sexual assault examination course for certification in conjunction with the International Association of Forensic Nurses. 

“My mom and I, we’re both very, very passionate about pursuing all these different things and being a jack-of-all-trades because all of these things ultimately help us better contribute to society to make things better for the next generation,” said Holt. 

For Jessee, the best moment of this journey didn’t happen in a class. It was when she and Holt walked the stage at their hooding and pinning ceremony after completing their bachelor’s degrees and saw their family – large enough to take up two full rows of seats – cheering them on.
“Every single person has played a role in our success,” said Jessee. 

Of course, their journey is far from over. Ultimately, they want to establish a crisis center to support those struggling with addiction, mental health issues and survivors of domestic abuse. 

Jessee pointed to the educators who inspired them to want to be the best they could be as the reason she and her daughter are so driven to make an impact on others. 

“These were people that didn’t have to care about us, didn’t have to love us, didn’t have to invest in us, but these people impacted us and made us want to be better, go higher,” Jessee said. “It’s like every level of education at ETSU builds upon itself and we’ve had such a great foundation laid for us at ETSU that we never anticipated, and where we end up is a direct reflection and credit to where we came from.”