Michigan native Jordan Hart was originally drawn to Finnish as a way of exploring his own family heritage. “I’ve got a Finnish grandma. So I had to make her proud.” Thanks to the Finnish language program at the University of Minnesota, Hart was able to pursue his interest in this unusual language, while studying for a bachelor’s degree in nursing.
“There are no language requirements in the School of Nursing. So I just did it because I was really interested in Finnish. We have a really great Finnish instructor here. I liked it so much that I decided to audit the third year course again.
“Finnish has probably been my favorite class at the U.”
Finnish studies and nursing might seem like an odd combination, but Jordan’s foreign language skills have opened up a whole new range of possibilities:
“Finland has an even greater nursing shortage than the United States. So I’m thinking about maybe doing some nursing in Finland for a year or two, and seeing how that goes.”
