The University of Houston Sugar Land recently celebrated its students and their benefactors at the 15^th Annual Scholarship Banquet. Two students addressed the audience to tell their stories of personal and academic accomplishment, and of the importance of their scholarship support.

Years ago, I would have laughed if you had told me that I would one day become a nurse. I had no idea that my personality, passions, and interests were so aligned with this profession, but in retrospect, I can see how much of my life has been pointing in this direction. So I’m going to show you a couple of snapshots of what led me into nursing and where I plan to go from here.

In college (the first time around), I was offered an opportunity to spend six months in the Middle East teaching English and reading to students who wanted to go to college in the US. While I was with a friend at a hospital there one day, I met countless refugees from surrounding countries and heard stories of war, of death, of separation from family, and of the various health issues that follow terrorist attacks, like chronic respiratory problems from breathing in the debris of a bombing. It was the first time I experienced an overwhelming heartbreak for an entire population. I went home and lamented to my roommate about how I wanted to do anything I could to stop the pain these refugees had experienced. She listened quietly, then looked at me when I finished and said, “so do something”, like it was the simplest thing in the world. And it turns out, it kind of was.

With the help of several friends and after asking a million questions, we found the refugee camps in the area and went around asking each family what needs we could meet. Sometimes it was as simple as shoes so they wouldn’t burn their feet on the sand, and other times it was to find a doctor that could tend to an infection on a severed leg… And even though we were there to serve them, they offered us tea at every corner and cooked meals for us with the little food they had by digging holes in the ground and using the heat of the earth as a stove. They were also kind and forgiving when, instead of saying “I’ll see you all tomorrow” in Arabic, I told them that they all looked like cows.

I left that first trip to the Middle East having learned what it looked like to be truly selfless from people who had lost everything, and that, if you have a burden, doing something is always better than doing nothing.

When I returned to the states, I finished my degree in education and I quickly learned that while I love teaching and I love children, teaching mass amounts of children is not my thing. I also became very sick when I was teaching… My body was swimming with inflammation—I had migraines on a daily basis, weekly gallbladder attacks, swelling in my hand and feet, would randomly break out in hives, I lost over 30 pounds because I either couldn’t keep anything down or my body wasn’t absorbing food correctly, and I ended up being pretty malnourished. And I was fascinated by it. I would sit and talk for hours with different doctors, learning about why the body responds to things the way it does. My body was a puzzle that I was determined to Sherlock my way into understanding. We eventually did figure out that it all stemmed from several food intolerances, and now I can live a pain-free life by staying away from gluten, corn, egg, and nuts… It sounds rough, but I’m used to it now and it’s been at least 2 years since I cried in Whole Foods.

I had all these nursing attributes floating around me with no place to land: a love for people of all nationalities and their stories, a passion to advocate for the vulnerable, a fascination with anatomy and physiology, a love for learning, and a thirst to problem solve. And to top it off, my ADD makes me a stellar multi-tasker.

One day about 2 years ago, someone casually said “you should be a nurse”, then all those pieces fell into place and I haven’t looked back since.

It’s hard to express the gratitude I feel in being awarded a scholarship in the middle of this program, but here’s my best shot: The 2^nd Degree BSN program at UH is hard. Just 10 months ago, we were first freaking out that if we counted someone’s pulse wrong we would be kicked out of the program. Our worldview of testing changed and we’ve had to work harder to keep our test grades above a risen threshold; what used to be a safe “C” in our other degrees suddenly became this cliff of death that would fail us is we stumbled over it. We’ve had to learn which one out of four right answers was the best right answer, and quickly learned that we couldn’t convince our profs that they were wrong. We’ve learned a whole new language, the words of which I’m definitely still pronouncing wrong. And we’ve neglected our friends and families out of necessity. My two-year-old nephew is so used to me constantly doing homework that when I was looking for food in the refrigerator the other day, he asked if I was looking for my computer. We’ve done all of this in half the time other nursing schools do it.

So for someone to be so generous as to invest in us and recognize the hard work that we’ve put into our schooling is both humbling and encouraging, and I know I speak for every scholarship recipient in the 2^nd Degree BSN program when I say that your gift allowed us to breathe when we were anxious and exhausted and we are infinitely grateful.

From here, I will go on to be an emergency room nurse—a profession that is exciting, constantly moving, and diverse. I will get to work in teams of like-minded nurses to save lives during trauma, figure out disease processes, get to know the backgrounds and cultures of various people, and make them smile or laugh when they feel sick and scared.

I will also continue to passionately advocate for vulnerable populations in my community. Lately that passion has been driven toward children in foster care. Specifically, those ages 11-21 who are most likely to “age out” of the system, who often see themselves as unadoptable and unlovable—and that is unacceptable. Statistics have shown that young adults who age out are far more likely than their adopted or non-foster peers to end up homeless, pregnant, imprisoned, on drugs, or dead within years of leaving the system. My hope is to create a program that utilizes one-on-one mentorship and the education of life skills through music, theatre arts, and team sports to decrease these statistics and teach these young men and women that they are supported, loved, and worth far more than their circumstances.

It’s always awkward to give a speech about yourself, but it is very obvious to me, and I hope I can make it clear to you, is that my story is about so much more than me. They say it takes a village to raise a child, but I think it takes a village to be a healthy, successful adult. For me, it takes a God who is extending constant mercies; parents who support and encourage their strong-willed, adventurous daughter; professors who work around the clock and don’t even get summers off to teach me and guide me when I’m overwhelmed; friends who challenge me, laugh with me, and support my crazy ideas about changing the world… And complete strangers who give me scholarships so that I can pursue my dreams. Your contributions to my education are helping me to reach my goals. Whatever your reason for donating to these scholarships, it came from a place of love and caring. I am very grateful. Thank you.

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