Luke
Glaude
December, 2013
2014
I believe that I will have an exciting future and career because I chose nursing as a profession. In just a few short weeks I will finish my undergraduate education and will become an RN early next year. For me it has been a long journey to get to this point as I will also turn 30 the day after I receive my pin. However, it was all very much worth it as nursing will enable me to live a very intriguing life during the next 3-plus decades.
I chose to pursue a nursing career while I was a Health Education volunteer in the Peace Corps and living in Masasi, Tanzania. Having graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Social Work and Anthropology I had a very fuzzy idea of what my future would hold. I knew I wanted to work with people and be beneficial to them. But how? International development, a doctor, an anthropologist, a teacher? If only I could find something that included a bit from all those fields. In Masasi, among other things, I got to see live births, worked directly with nurses and doctors and began educating the community about HIV. I soon realized that nursing might be the only profession that did include all of those things.
As I look back on my undergraduate nursing education, I am most surprised by the complex and diverse challenges of the nursing profession. There are many people who may want to get a job right after they graduate and live comfortably for a while. The new graduates who continue to challenge themselves and move forward by taking on more responsibilities will be the leaders in the future. Therefore, I am not only challenging myself but also other nurses (and future nurses) reading this to feel alright with venturing into the unknown. It is only then that we will truly learn new things, as it is only through struggle that someone truly grows.
In brief, my goals as a nurse over the foreseeable future are quite simple. I want to learn as much as I can, then teach others. What I know is that the nursing profession will open many opportunities and I am greatly looking forward to the unique challenge that each will provide. I might work in an Emergency Department in New York City, train community health workers in East Africa, or help change health policy to make the United States a more healthy country overall. Actually, I would love to do all of these. Trying to do any of these with no support from other healthcare professionals or organizations would be completely impossible. The Robert Wood Johnson scholarship that I received not only allowed me to focus specifically on my future career by helping me monetarily. It also gave me the confidence that I made the right decision, confidence that I will continue to build upon as my career progresses and I endure other exciting challenges.
I chose to pursue a nursing career while I was a Health Education volunteer in the Peace Corps and living in Masasi, Tanzania. Having graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Social Work and Anthropology I had a very fuzzy idea of what my future would hold. I knew I wanted to work with people and be beneficial to them. But how? International development, a doctor, an anthropologist, a teacher? If only I could find something that included a bit from all those fields. In Masasi, among other things, I got to see live births, worked directly with nurses and doctors and began educating the community about HIV. I soon realized that nursing might be the only profession that did include all of those things.
As I look back on my undergraduate nursing education, I am most surprised by the complex and diverse challenges of the nursing profession. There are many people who may want to get a job right after they graduate and live comfortably for a while. The new graduates who continue to challenge themselves and move forward by taking on more responsibilities will be the leaders in the future. Therefore, I am not only challenging myself but also other nurses (and future nurses) reading this to feel alright with venturing into the unknown. It is only then that we will truly learn new things, as it is only through struggle that someone truly grows.
In brief, my goals as a nurse over the foreseeable future are quite simple. I want to learn as much as I can, then teach others. What I know is that the nursing profession will open many opportunities and I am greatly looking forward to the unique challenge that each will provide. I might work in an Emergency Department in New York City, train community health workers in East Africa, or help change health policy to make the United States a more healthy country overall. Actually, I would love to do all of these. Trying to do any of these with no support from other healthcare professionals or organizations would be completely impossible. The Robert Wood Johnson scholarship that I received not only allowed me to focus specifically on my future career by helping me monetarily. It also gave me the confidence that I made the right decision, confidence that I will continue to build upon as my career progresses and I endure other exciting challenges.
