LONE TREE, Colo. (KDVR) – This Mother’s Day, Abby Plotke can’t say enough about her mom, Julia.

“My mom is the smartest woman I’ve ever met,” Abby said. “She’s a strong independent woman, and I love that.”

Julia Plotke is the director of trauma services at Sky Ridge Medical Center in Lone Tree, and Abby grew up watching her mom.

“I always thought that was kind of cool, like, my mom saves lives for a living,” Abby said.

But she wasn’t entirely sure what she wanted to do with her life until she got to college.

“She took some classes in health care and things like that, and just absolutely fell in love with the science aspect of it. So she decided to go into nursing,” Julia said.

It’s been a long road through a pandemic, but on May 28 Abby will graduate from the University of Colorado College of Nursing, and she’s not the only one getting a degree.

Mom, Julia, will receive her Master’s degree. “Give my mom some kudos!” Abby said.

Abby works as a tech right now at Sky Ridge, but in August she will start a new position in the ICU.

“I’m super excited about it,” she said.

The mother and daughter will work in the same hospital but different areas.

“We’ll still get to see each other on the day to day, which will be nice, but we’ll get to kind of do our own thing too,” Abby said.

The Plotke women have a lot to celebrate.