Taylor Clark

I am deeply excited to begin the accelerated BSN program and am truly honored to begin this endeavor with the support of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation New Careers in Nursing scholarship.  I am attracted to the nursing profession because of the variety of fields nursing skills can be used in.  I intend to work as a nurse in the acute care setting. Additionally, I will work with hospitals and health care providers to reduce the frequency and severity of incidents arising from patient care rendered, as well as helping to pioneer roles to help create risk management programs. My ultimate goal is to obtain my Master of Science in Nursing where I can then become an educator in a teaching-based hospital or nursing school. My intended focus is to teach about patient safety and risk management issues.
I believe that I can help foster more diversity in the nursing profession if I were to become an educator.  As an African-American woman, I am prepared and look forward to mentoring minority students.  My undergraduate major in Spanish, as well as my undergraduate certificate in Latin American and Caribbean Studies, has helped me learn the language and cultures of the nation’s fastest growing minority population. For example, in college I served as guardian ad litem to a four year old where I oversaw necessary mental health and speech pathology treatments. I also attended high school with both white and black students, and by befriending them, I became aware of the challenges struggling families encounter in their everyday lives. Both my experience and training places me in a unique position--I can mentor a new wave of students while ensuring that health care delivery and compliance is culturally sensitive. Minorities in the academic role can encourage other minorities to pursue jobs in the healthcare field thus enriching educational programs in an effort to show that the nursing profession does value diversity.
While attaining both my undergraduate and graduate law education, I have financially supported myself. I have earned scholarships and taken a large amount of debt, yet I do not regret this as it was necessary to obtain this rare skill set I seek to use in my career. In preparation for the accelerated BSN program, I saved money in order to fund my basic cost of living because I will not be able to work while attending school. I am truly grateful for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation NCIN scholarship that I received as it will help free me from some of my financial burden, giving me the ability to focus solely on school while I move toward my career goals.