Royals 4

I have always felt more pressure on me than my younger siblings from my Hispanic parents. I then understood that I was pressured into becoming a role model for my younger siblings. In other words, I was setting up the standards for them. Since I was very little I was always told, “ten una carrera para que cuando seas grande no batalles como nosotros” which means ‘have a career so that when you are older you don’t struggle like us.’ At a very young age, I understood that I had to take school very seriously, have priorities, and be a well-rounded person. Wanting to find my passion I decided to join as many programs and educational events as possible. To where I ended being a part of an internship, presenting within the Unified Government office. After hours of research, I finished my presentation as an intern at the Unified Government department. It was time to show everyone in the room my idea for improving health in shelters for unhoused people. Not long after, I sat as I heard everyone’s applause. I then listened to a lady congratulate me from behind. When I turned around, I saw a big smile that warmed my heart. The committee leader continuously talked about how excellent and detailed my presentation was. I instantly knew this was what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. The lady’s face of gratitude and satisfaction is what I want to see for the rest of my life from each future patient I interact with. The internship’s final presentation was one of my most significant leadership experiences as I spoke for the community’s health needs for those unhoused people who need assistance but do not have the opportunity to be heard by a vital audience who can work together to make a change happen. Wanting to feel the satisfaction of being an action-taker, having humility, and genuinely caring about others,  I decided to join Medical Club, Saturday Academy, and Nursing Academy. These three programs filled my urge to become a leader, especially when it comes to health and caring for others. I was also fortunate because these clubs had professional speakers to share their career experiences and showed many hands-on activities related to their careers. These clubs played the following role in finding precisely what nurse specialty I wanted to become, a nurse anesthetist. All these organizations in my community came with life experiences and people who showed me the importance of healthcare, which I ended up loving. Deep down, I will always give my community the recognition it deserves. Because to me, my community was the place, people, and experiences that contributed to small changes with significant impacts, which revealed the healthcare interest to me. To me, it’s the connections I made that helped me find more information when I asked myself, “What’s next?” It’s the place where my nursing interest sparked and the people that I learned from. It’s my home with resources when I didn’t have someone to look up to, just like this fantastic community gave me the opportunity to find my passion through all the experiences I had, offered by the community’s programs. I want to come back and give other kids the chance to find theirs. I plan to come back to my school as a postgraduate and to the organizations I was a part of. I will speak to students about my academic journey and my profession, and I want to be a mentor for those wishing to become healthcare workers as well. I know that, just like me, there will be other kids in my community who probably will be indecisive about their future and will not know what path to take. As a student who always goes to career fairs excited to speak to healthcare providers, I have never seen a nurse anesthetist attend one. I want to change that and become a nurse anesthetist that kids can come up to during career fairs. I want to have an influence on those kids and help them with finding a passion in healthcare, just like this community influenced me. I believe my journey of becoming a nurse can influence others to find a passion in healthcare. I need to be brave and be the first-generation college graduate in my family to then come back and reflect on the barriers I crossed. I desire to reduce the frustration in students who also want to pursue a healthcare career and hopefully be part of that bridge that connects the students to internships or other opportunities that can bring them closer to the medical community. I want to have an immense impact directly on individuals. One by one, I want to help future student leaders who dream of working in healthcare. The feeling I felt after my health presentation when the committee leader gave me a heartwarming smile is incomparable. As a person, I feel complete and eager to help others. My dream of helping patients and mentoring the next generations who are interested in nursing cannot happen if I don’t further my education to do so. At the end of the day, it will all be worth seeing the smiles on people’s faces, whether they are my patients or students.