Looking to eventually become a nurse, Erin is gaining clinical experience while attending Boston College.
Roadmap.
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"Don’t be afraid to interact with people, whether it be patients, nurses, or even just people you know. Being a nurse is all about interacting and taking care of your patients. So it would be best to gain some experience with talking to people and helping them be at ease."
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MILESTONES
My career roadmap has been somewhat defined.
I don’t remember exactly when it was, but I do remember that there was a moment in my childhood where I realized that I loved helping people and that I wanted to somehow incorporate this into my future career.
When my grandfather had his first stroke, I was exposed to the nurse-patient dynamic in a hospital. I realized that it was different than going to the hospital for regular checkups. Some nurses are nice to their patients, but I also noticed that others would totally disregard the care that their patients need. This was when I started considering nursing as a profession.
I lost sight of nursing, and decided to try criminal justice. I believed that I could also help people through this career by finding the culprit of a case, in which this would help the victim’s family. However, as silly as it may sound, I realized that this was not for me when I went to the Universal Studios Halloween Horror Nights. In a maze, there were fake dead body parts everywhere, and I could not look at them even for a second, so it made me realize that if I can’t handle a prop, maybe I can’t handle the real deal.
My grandfather had another stroke, and this is what reminded me of nursing. I decided to give nursing a shot.
I started to volunteer at a hospital to see if I wanted to keep pursuing this, or if I should start pursuing something else. As I was volunteering, I made friends with the nurses and the care partners on the floor. I had a little sneak peak into what it would be like as a nurse, and I truly loved it. I also got to speak with some of the patients as I would gather any materials they would need for their comfort.
I fell in love with nursing because I would be able to help the patients directly. I can form a connection with them to help them heal during their time at the hospital.
A little extra information that helped me with what kind of field I might want to go into later in my career is that I worked as a tutor my junior year. This might not sound related to nursing, but I worked with kids from grade kindergarten to grade 10. Working with kids made me realize that I want to be a pediatrician.
EXPERIENCE
Here are my extracurriculars relevant to this pathway
DURING MY HIGH SCHOOL CAREER
I volunteered at Cedar Sinai Medical Center for about two years.
I worked as a tutor at Thinking Tree during my junior year.
DURING MY COLLEGE CAREER
Nothing yet, BUT will be starting clinicals this year!!
CAREER
What I'm currently doing/hope to do
At the moment, I am not doing anything actively to pursue my career other than taking classes in my major. However, starting spring semester of my sophomore year, I will begin my clinicals! I am very excited for this because it will allow me to interact with patients and learn how different fields of nursing act and work. During my future years of clinicals, I will be able to work with different hospitals, different nurses, and different specialities of nursing. After I graduate, I will be taking the NCLEX exam, and hopefully I will have a job. As for graduate school, I have yet to decide if I want to go.
ADVICE
How to maximize my time in high school?
Advice #1: Don’t be afraid to interact with people, whether it be patients, nurses, or even just people you know. Being a nurse is all about interacting and taking care of your patients. So it would be best to gain some experience with talking to people and helping them be at ease.
Advice #2: Don’t give up. Nursing is a very hard subject to study, but if it is something that you want to do in the future, you just have to do your best. Honestly, doing your absolute best is what really matters.
Advice #3: Find other people who are interested in nursing. You can volunteer at hospitals together, and build each other up so that you both succeed.
Advice #4: I also wanted to say that if there is a hobby you absolutely enjoy, you should not stop just because nursing is a lot of work. Yes, it can be overwhelming, but if you use your hobby as a stress reliever, or a breather for your brain/body, it will increase your chances of doing well.
