Cori Bowker

My first desire to become a nurse came when I was very young. My childhood babysitter was a woman who was also a foster parent to over ninety children and eventually was an asset in helping her take care of the children. This would be one of my first valuable experiences.

I attended Coastal Carolina University in Conway, South Carolina and decided to major in marine science. While at CCU, I joined Students Taking Active Responsibility, a community service oriented club. I also volunteered at several area hospitals while I was in school. At the end of my junior year, I went and studied in Ecuador. During the trip we spent several days in a settlement in the foothills of the Andes Mountains. The people there were so poor, yet they seemed to love life and show so much joy. We left clothing and whatever else we could to help the children there. It was shortly after this trip that I began to think about nursing again. I knew that no knowledge is wasted and that I would finish CCU with a major in biology and a minor in marine science.

In the fall of 2008, I applied to and was accepted to the Medical University of South Carolina. I was honored to receive the Robert Wood Johnson University scholarship for minority students. The scholarship took so much of the worry away because of financial demands that I was really able to concentrate on my studies.

I stated in my first sentence that nursing was an important form of community service and there are several ways that I believe this to be true. Nurses are usually there at the most joyous and the most sorrowful times in our lives. They are the professionals who are there the most time with patients. They do the initial triage and screening in the emergency room. They administer medication. They chart the vital signs of patients and alert doctors to changes and emergencies. Nurses instruct new expectant mothers in birthing classes, weigh and measure the newborn, and care for babies in the nursery. They speak to new mothers about care, breast feeding, and the medical needs of newborns. Throughout life, a person speaks to nurses in one way or another for advice on care or medications. Nurses are also the people who have the charge of caring or the dying or terminally ill. Usually, the nursing staff has more contact with the family than the doctors. Aside from their duties, nurses are asked for advice and often give comfort to the families of the sick and dying. They are one of the most essential parts of the health care system. Nurses are always on duty. Nurses are there. They help. They advise when asked. Nurses are essential to the health care system and the community as a whole. I continue this form of community service in goal of becoming an experienced and exceptional nurse!