I am interested in pursuing and am currently pursuing a nursing degree because of my daughter. My daughter Dahlia has Down syndrome and because of some complications related to her diagnosis she spent several days in the NICU and if it wasn’t for the nurses that helped our family we definitely wouldn’t be where we are today. It was in during that time I spent in the hospital waiting to take our sweet baby home, that I realized that I wanted to be able to help other families and newborns get the greatest start to life. There’s something so unique and intimate about being there to care for newborns who have complications or were born to early and also teaching parents how to help in their child’s journey. I think I get both sides of nursing because you get to care for not only the baby but also the parents. Every small feat is such a huge milestone and I know when Dahlia had completed a step we were getting closer to taking her home. I think being a nurse, I would be able to offer so much care and compassion because I know how scary it can be on the other side of the table. I specifically chose nursing because I like the idea of working and advocating for patients rather then being a doctor and only spending a limited time with patients. Nursing is such an important aspect to healthcare and they have helped my family in so many ways. This career was the perfect way for me to give back to my community. Nursing was also a way to show Dahlia that no matter what happens in life you can always achieve your goal no matter how tough everyone said it’s going to be. I also wanted to pursue nursing because this career is a giving tree and whatever you put into it is what you can get in return. I think as demanding as it can be sometime it gives so much in return. This job can also be taken to so many different areas I like being able to switch specialties and have the ability to help so many diverse populations of people. Lastly, I am Navajo and I live close to the reservation. I would like to use my career to help my people because there isn’t as equal of access to healthcare as there is in other places. Nursing is one of the best careers anyone could choose and I am so thankful and happy I get to be a nurse! Thank you for reading!!

Hello, my name is Elexes Contreras, I am a current BSN student at Northern Arizona University, and I am in the compressed program. Throughout my life the idea of my career path has always been set on going into the medical field, I just wasn’t sure of what specific area to go into. I thought about being a doctor or an ultrasound tech. All I knew was that I wanted to help people, my family, and my community. I learned that I wanted to a nurse in March of 2021, this was shortly after I had my daughter. My daughter, Dahlia, is a beautiful baby girl who has Down syndrome and she is now 3. I found out I was pregnant at 16 in the middle of the COVID pandemic, I had to go to all my appointment’s alone and I found out about her diagnosis when I was 20 weeks by myself, and this was a really hard time for me I was really scared and shocked. When I gave birth to her in March, she had a heart defect and she couldn’t keep stable oxygen levels, so they had to admit her to the NICU. I was very fearful because I didn’t know what that was going to look like, and I was hoping she wasn’t going to have to stay in the hospital for very long. However, this is still one of the greatest experiences of my life. The nurses who helped us during our short but sweet stay, were helping me navigate through all the complexities of being a new mother, especially at such a young age. They treated me as if they would any other “of age” mother and that is what I came to appreciate most. Dahlia was not labeled by her diagnosis, and I was not labeled a teen parent. They taught me so much and gave me and my daughter the best odds after leaving the hospital. I learned the best ways to feed her, how to burp her, and they even helped me with breastfeeding and postpartum care too. Ultimately, this experience guided me in the field of nursing where I am currently pursuing my nursing degree to become a NICU or labor and delivery nurse. I hope to offer my patients the same level of care that I received as well as offer more compassion and care because I know how scary it can be to be on the other side of the table. I also want to set a great example for my daughter, who is already at a disposition with her disability, that she can do anything she wants no matter what the circumstances are. I overcame teen pregnancy, graduated high school with a 4.0 and now completing my college requirements with a 4.0 as well and there were always people in the background constantly telling me I’m never going to make it or that my life is going to be so hard. My life has been a lot more challenging, but it has also been incredibly rewarding and so rich in ways I couldn’t image. My other motivators for being a nurse fall into being an advocate for people with disabilities and their care takers. I think society and especially healthcare like to point out all the things that people with disabilities can’t do, so if I can play a role in helping people realize what they can do drives me to really help break the stereotype and has the knowledge and experiences to do so. Another big motivator is I want to complete school and become a nurse to show other teen moms that they can finish school and do whatever they want, their dreams don’t have to come to an end just because they had a child. I also think that teen moms don’t get the credit they deserve, a lot of people think that just because we are young means that we aren’t going to be good mom’s which is not the case. I experience this a lot when taking her to any medical appointments they would ask me questions about my personal life, like if I was married or not or if I live with my parents. If I was older, I wouldn’t have gotten asked these questions. I think nursing will provide me with an opportunity to help people with medical care while they are in the hospital but also be an advocate in their care to other healthcare professionals. I can be their voice if they aren’t comfortable with it or don’t want to. I think nursing is a perfect medium to allow me to advocate and be in the medical community. I am also Navajo, and I get the opportunity to give back to my people, since flagstaff is so close to the Navajo reservation, I can help give back to the needs out their where resources and health care isn’t as accessible. I wouldn’t be able to do what I do without the support of my community and other resources that are helping me get through school with a child. I am so thankful for all the people who are showing me a steppingstone on this amazing journey. I can’t wait to give back to my community and help others feel welcome, heard , and taken care of. Thank you for reading and learning about my story, as I hope it continues to inspire others.