Nursing wasn't always my goal in education. As a little girl, all I wanted to do was be a veterinarian. Growing up in Northern California, I was constantly around animals. We had pets at the house, of course, but my mom had a full-time job riding, training, and taking care of horses at a ranch. Being raised around horses just fueled my ambition to become a veterinarian even more. I stuck with that goal throughout elementary school in California and through middle school and high school in Idaho. After graduation in 2019, I immediately went into a pre-veterinarian program at North Idaho Community College. I realized very shortly after my first semester that I had no idea what I had gotten myself into. Not only did I dislike every class they had me take, but after two semesters, the Coronavirus pandemic occurred, and I failed almost everything in that third semester. I felt beyond burnt out and frustrated that all the school was allowing me to take from then on were plant biology classes. This meant that I was not even going to learn anything about animal health until I made it to the 4-year mark in the program. I felt so defeated and I wanted to change my major and program, but I also didn't want to fully abandon the medical field. The idea of trying out nursing came into view during the pandemic. After witnessing all the nurses and healthcare professionals over the news work tirelessly to help all of those who suffered from the coronavirus, I felt beyond inspired. Since then, nursing has been my priority and my new dream. I then spent about two years taking pre-nursing classes to be accepted into the ASN program at NIC. And I am currently in the program and going into my second semester after this summer. I now dream of someday having those two letters by name and being able to make important decisions for my patients. I hope to someday work in pediatrics, the pediatric ER, PICU, or NICU. I currently work with adults and geriatric patients on a Cardiac Medical/Surgical Unit, but I love the idea of working with children at a children's hospital or the NICU unit and having the joy of nursing babies back to health so their families can take them home. I aspire to help people in general as a nurse. I want to make an impact in other people's lives and try my absolute hardest to see sick people go home safely and in better health. I know there are dreadful circumstances that I will have to handle in healthcare as a nurse and I have experienced some terrible events and scenarios in my current job as a Certified Nursing Assistant. I won't lie, there are some things that I have witnessed that will never leave my mind. That's life, and life is cruel and unfair. I know I won't be able to heal every single patient I care for, but that doesn't mean I can't make even those who are suffering more comfortable, less in pain, and provide them with the utmost peace, patience, and compassion. That is what being a nurse is truly about.

My name is Haylee Scott, I am a 22-year-old female who is recently happily married to my best friend, and we live together in a tiny duplex here in Coeur d'Alene. At the moment, I am in my first semester of my ASN program at North Idaho College and I'm started another program in the summer to get my BSN simultaneously with my RN. I currently work in healthcare full-time as a Certified Nursing Assistant on a Cardiac/MedSurg unit at Kootenai Health Medical Center. I love it at my hospital, and I enjoy helping people and learning new things about medicine with every shift I work. Before starting my pre-nursing classes at NIC a couple of years ago, I had always wanted to be a veterinarian. That quickly changed when the COVID pandemic hit, and ever since seeing all the nurses and healthcare professionals work tirelessly to help all of those who suffered from the coronavirus, I was very inspired and that was all I wanted to do. Since then, I've been working hard trying to get into nursing school, and now that I'm actually in the program, my dream doesn't feel as far away. I dream of someday having those valuable letters by name and being able to make important decisions for my patients. I hope to someday work in pediatrics or perhaps the pediatric ER, PICU, or NICU. I currently work with adults and geriatric patients, but I love the idea of working with children at a children's hospital or the NICU unit and having the joy of nursing babies back to health so their families can finally take them home. I babysat younger kids and infants for years before I had an actual job, not to mention I have two younger siblings that I helped take care of, so children are my everything. I also worked in a Family Fun Park before my hospital job and my absolute favorite part of it was getting to work with kids who were scared of the rides and watching them have the best time when I helped them get over their fears. Specifically, the 30-foot ropes course that I constantly worked. There have been countless times when little kids would go up to the top level and quickly realize it was higher up than they thought it was. I loved being able to talk them into going with me and holding their hand on obstacles until they felt safe enough. In a way, I want to do that for them as a nurse as well. I want to be able to hold their hands and walk them through a scary time in their lives until they aren't so scared anymore. I want to make an impact in these children's lives, as well as their parent's lives, and try my absolute hardest to see them go home safely. I know there are ugly situations in healthcare, and you don't see rainbows and sunshine every shift. I sadly have some experience already in that sense from my job currently. That's life, and life is sad and unfair, of course, I won't be able to heal every single kid I care for, but that doesn't mean I can't make even those who are suffering more comfortable, less in pain, and provide them with the utmost peace and compassion. That is what being a nurse is about.

My name is Haylee Scott, I am a 22-year-old female who is, at the moment, highly focused on getting into the ASN program at North Idaho College to achieve my ASN degree as well as my BSN degree. I currently work in healthcare full-time as a Certified Nursing Assistant on a Cardiac/MedSurg unit at Kootenai Health Medical Center. I love it at my hospital and I enjoy helping people and learning new things about medicine with every shift I work. Before starting my pre-nursing classes at NIC a couple of years ago, I had always wanted to be a veterinarian. That quickly changed when the COVID pandemic hit, and ever since seeing all the nurses and healthcare professionals work tirelessly to help all of those who suffered from the coronavirus, that's all I wanted to do. I spent two years so far taking pre-nursing classes to be accepted into the ASN program at NIC, and I have already been denied from said program twice. I applied for a third time, and hopefully the last time, this past month for the Spring 2024 semester and I hear back in November. I am anxiously and excitedly waiting for the results and I have high hopes this time around. I dream of someday having those two letters by name and being able to make important decisions for my patients. I hope to someday work in pediatrics or perhaps the pediatric ER, PICU, or NICU. I currently work with adults and geriatric patients, but I love the idea of working with children at a children's hospital or the NICU unit and having the joy of nursing babies back to health so their families can take them home. It would be my dream to help people in general as a nurse. I want to make an impact in other people's lives and try my absolute hardest to see sick people go home safely and in better health. I know there are bad situations in healthcare and you don't see rainbows and sunshine every shift, I would know that already from working at my hospital. That's life, and life is sad and unfair, of course, I won't be able to heal every single patient I care for, but that doesn't mean I can't make even those who are suffering more comfortable, less in pain, and provide them with the utmost peace and compassion. That is what being a nurse is truly about.

In Northern Idaho, the autumn season starts early at the end of August. As the hot summer weather slowly fades away, it's replaced with the crisp, chilled air of fall. Gold and crimson leaves slowly begin to fall gracefully from all the trees in our area. You're excited it's finally fall and even more excited that pumpkin-flavored everything is coming back into season, including pumpkin coffees. With that, Starbucks publically releases its new fall menu, and you decide to pay them a visit on a specific autumn day. As you start your car, you notice the frost and fog on the car windows. You can see your breath in front of your face as you climb in and you unexpectedly smile as your body shivers, happy because it's the beginning of a gorgeous season. As you pull up to Starbucks, you order something you've never tried before; an iced pumpkin chai with pumpkin cream cold foam. An iced drink on a cold day may sound absurd, but the description of this drink sounded too good not to try. Now leaving the infamous coffee joint, autumn beverage in hand, you take a sip before pulling back onto the road. Creamy, spiced, with hints of pumpkin surrounded by the delightfully overpowering taste of chilled chai tea hit your tongue. Even though it was iced, the drink tasted and felt like a warm hug. It tasted like opening a new book on a chilly morning, the crisp feel of untouched paper on your fingertips and the smell of the pages as you flip through to read the day away. It tasted like sitting by the warm fire, hearing the embers delightfully crackle and pop as you snuggle up closer to the warmth while being immersed in a thick, cozy blanket. It tasted like baking a fresh batch of cookies, having the oh-so-nostalgic smell of baked goods engulf your home in such a comforting way. It tasted like the crunch of leaves under kids' feet as they excitedly go from house to house trick-or-treating on Halloween night. It tasted like warm oversized sweaters and even warmer socks. It tasted like trekking for hours in a vast pumpkin patch to find the perfect pumpkin to carve with your significant other, having them scoop out the guts of course since you hate the feeling on your hands, but they're happy to do it because they love you. It tastes like Thanksgiving dinner, sharing drinks and laughs with close family, finishing up with board games until midnight. This drink tasted like the epitome of all fall seasons and more to come. You're transported back to reality as you set the cup down in the cup holder. You grin down at your drink, realizing that just after a single sip, this is your new favorite.

My name is Haylee Scott, I am a 22-year-old female who is, at the moment, highly focused on getting into the ASN program at North Idaho College to achieve my ASN degree as well as my BSN degree. I currently work in healthcare full-time as a Certified Nursing Assistant on a Cardiac/MedSurg unit at Kootenai Health Medical Center. I love it at my hospital and I enjoy helping people and learning new things about medicine with every shift I work. Before starting my pre-nursing classes at NIC a couple of years ago, I had always wanted to be a veterinarian. That quickly changed when the COVID pandemic hit, and ever since seeing all the nurses and healthcare professionals work tirelessly to help all of those who suffered from the coronavirus, that's all I wanted to do. I have spent two years so far taking pre-nursing classes to be accepted into the ASN program at NIC, and I have already been denied from said program twice. I applied for a third time, and hopefully the last time, this past month for the Spring 2024 semester and I did hear back that I am on the waiting list for acceptance! I am also a first-generation college student in my family, which makes me feel prideful and grateful that I'm accomplishing so much already. Being a woman as well and planning to go through such a difficult route in my education makes me feel rather successful and intelligent, which I haven't really felt before in my educational journey. It probably sounds conceited to say those things, but truthfully, I am proud of myself for getting this far without losing hope or giving up. I dream of someday having those two letters by name and being able to make important decisions for my patients. I hope to someday work in pediatrics or perhaps the pediatric ER, PICU, or NICU. I currently work with adults and geriatric patients, but I love the idea of working with children at a children's hospital or the NICU unit and having the joy of nursing babies back to health so their families can take them home. It would be my dream to help people in general as a nurse. I want to make an impact in other people's lives and try my absolute hardest to see sick people go home safely and in better health. I know there are awful scenarios that I would have to deal with in healthcare and you don't see rainbows and sunshine every shift, as I have unfortunately witnessed through my current job. That's life, and life is sad and unfair, of course, I won't be able to heal every single patient I care for, but that doesn't mean I can't make even those who are suffering more comfortable, less in pain, and provide them with the utmost peace and compassion. That is what being a nurse is truly about.

My name is Haylee Scott, I am a 22-year-old female who is, at the moment, highly focused on getting into the ASN program at North Idaho College to achieve my ASN degree as well as my BSN degree. I currently work in healthcare full-time as a Certified Nursing Assistant on a Cardiac/MedSurg unit at Kootenai Health Medical Center. When the COVID pandemic hit I was constantly reading articles and watching the news of all the nurses and healthcare professionals who were working tirelessly to help all of those who suffered from the coronavirus, and after seeing their bravery and hard work, that's all I wanted to do. I have spent two years so far taking pre-nursing classes to be accepted into the ASN program at NIC, and I have already been denied from said program twice. I applied for a third time, and hopefully the last time, this past month for the Spring 2024 semester and I hear back in November. I am anxiously and excitedly waiting for the results and I have high hopes this time around. I will say that my hearing disability has made a few things challenging. I was born with a defect in the malleus bone in my right ear that makes it so the bone doesn't have enough room to vibrate enough to transmit sound from my eardrum to my middle ear. Funny enough, I knew I was born with hearing loss my whole life, but up until recently this year I didn't know the reason until I had a CT scan in January. Because of this defect, I have about 40-50 decibels of hearing loss in my right ear, which is considered mild to moderate hearing loss. I went my whole life without really any big issues until I started nursing. When I first began the section in my nursing assistant certification class where we learned how to read blood pressure, it was extremely hard to hear correctly. Not only are the sounds quiet but having a hearing loss on top of that, nothing was loud enough for me to accurately measure anything with the stethoscopes. Because of this, I failed my certification exam just because of my blood pressure reading and I had to take the entire 2-month course over again. When I took the course again, I applied for disability accommodations for the first time in my life, and I finally passed my exam. I was so embarrassed because I felt like I was cheating, but the accommodations helped me so much and it made me worry a lot less. At work, sometimes it's hard to hear my patients or even my coworkers on top of the usual hospital noise. At school, it's difficult to hear my professors in the big lecture rooms, but luckily I learned to sit in the front row from then on. I'm so grateful, however, that my school is so accommodating and they kept my disability application in case I ever needed help in my next semesters. They even said I could rent out an amplified stethoscope for when I start nursing school! It's not easy at times to live with the cards I was dealt, but I will never let that stop me from achieving my dreams. I dream of someday having those two letters by name and being able to make important decisions for my patients. I want to make an impact in other people's lives and try my absolute hardest to see sick people go home healthy. I'm excited for the day I achieve this goal, even with my hearing loss.

My name is Haylee Scott, I am a 22-year-old female who is, at the moment, highly focused on getting into the ASN program at North Idaho College to achieve my ASN degree as well as my BSN degree. I currently work in healthcare full-time as a Certified Nursing Assistant on a Cardiac/MedSurg unit at Kootenai Health Medical Center. When the COVID pandemic hit I was constantly reading articles and watching the news of all the nurses and healthcare professionals who were working tirelessly to help all of those who suffered from the coronavirus, and after seeing their bravery and hard work, that's all I wanted to do. I have spent two years so far taking pre-nursing classes to be accepted into the ASN program at NIC, and I have already been denied from said program twice. I applied for a third time, and hopefully the last time, this past month for the Spring 2024 semester and I hear back in November. I am anxiously and excitedly waiting for the results and I have high hopes this time around. I will say that my hearing disability has made a few things challenging. I was born with a defect in the malleus bone in my right ear that makes it so the bone doesn't have enough room to vibrate enough to transmit sound from my eardrum to my middle ear. Funny enough, I knew I was born with hearing loss my whole life, but up until recently this year I didn't know the reason until I had a CT scan in January. Because of this defect, I have about 40-50 decibels of hearing loss in my right ear, which is considered mild to moderate hearing loss. I went my whole life without really any big issues until I started nursing. When I first began the section in my nursing assistant certificatoin class where we learned how to read blood pressure, it was extremely hard to hear correctly. Not only are the sounds quiet, but having hearing loss on top of that, nothing was loud enough for me to accurately measure anything with the stethoscopes. Because of this, I failed my certification exam just because of my blood pressure reading and I had to take the entire 2-month course over again. When I took the course again, I applied for disability accommodations for the first time in my life, and I finally passed my exam. I was so embarrassed because I felt like I was cheating, but the accomodations helped me so much and it made me worry a lot less. At work, sometimes its hard to hear my patients or even my coworkers on top of the usual hospital noise. At school, its difficult to hear my professors in the big lecture rooms, but luckily I learned to sit in the front row from then on. I'm so grateful, however, that my school is so accommodating and they kept my disability application in case I ever needed help in my next semesters. They even said I could rent out an amplified stethoscope for when I start nursing school! It's not easy at times to live with the cards I was dealt, but I will never let that stop me from achieving my dreams. I dream of someday having those two letters by name and being able to make important decisions for my patients. I want to make an impact in other people's lives and try my absolute hardest to see sick people go home healthy. I'm excited for the day I achieve this goal, even with my hearing loss.

My name is Haylee Scott, I am a 22-year-old female who is recently happily married to my best friend and we live together in a tiny duplex here in Coeur d'Alene. At the moment, I am highly focused on getting into the ASN program at North Idaho College to achieve my ASN degree as well as my BSN degree. I currently work in healthcare full-time as a Certified Nursing Assistant on a Cardiac/MedSurg unit at Kootenai Health Medical Center. I love it at my hospital and I enjoy helping people and learning new things about medicine with every shift I work. Before starting my pre-nursing classes at NIC a couple of years ago, I had always wanted to be a veterinarian. That quickly changed when the COVID pandemic hit, and ever since seeing all the nurses and healthcare professionals work tirelessly to help all of those who suffered from the coronavirus, that's all I wanted to do. I spent two years so far taking pre-nursing classes to be accepted into the ASN program at NIC, and I have already been denied from said program twice. I applied for a third time, and hopefully the last time, this past month for the Spring 2024 semester and I hear back in November. I am anxiously and excitedly waiting for the results and I have high hopes this time around. I dream of someday having those two letters by name and being able to make important decisions for my patients. I hope to someday work in pediatrics or perhaps the pediatric ER, PICU, or NICU. I currently work with adults and geriatric patients, but I love the idea of working with children at a children's hospital or the NICU unit and having the joy of nursing babies back to health so their families can take them home. I babysat younger kids and infants for years before I had an actual job, not to mention I have two younger siblings that I helped take care of, so children are my everything. I also worked in a Family Fun Park before my hospital job and my absolute favorite part of it was getting to work with kids who were scared of the rides, and watching them have the best time when I helped them get over their fears. Specifically, the 30-foot ropes course that I constantly worked. There have been countless times when little kids would go up to the top level and quickly realize it was higher up than they thought it was. I loved being able to talk them into going with me and holding their hand on obstacles until they felt safe enough. In a way, I want to do that for them as a nurse as well. I want to be able to hold their hands and walk them through a scary time in their lives until they aren't so scared. I want to make an impact in these children's lives, as well as their parent's lives, and try my absolute hardest to see them go home safely. I know there are ugly situations in healthcare and you don't see rainbows and sunshine every shift, I would know that already from working at my hospital. That's life, and life is sad and unfair, of course, I won't be able to heal every single kid I care for, but that doesn't mean I can't make even those who are suffering more comfortable, less in pain, and provide them with the utmost peace and compassion. That is what being a nurse is about.

My name is Haylee Scott, I am a 22-year-old female who is, at the moment, highly focused on getting into the ASN program at North Idaho College to achieve my ASN degree as well as my BSN degree. I currently work in healthcare full-time as a Certified Nursing Assistant on a Cardiac/MedSurg unit at Kootenai Health Medical Center. I love it at my hospital and I enjoy helping people and learning new things about medicine with every shift I work. Before starting my pre-nursing classes at NIC a couple of years ago, I had always wanted to be a veterinarian. That quickly changed when the COVID pandemic hit, and ever since seeing all the nurses and healthcare professionals work tirelessly to help all of those who suffered from the coronavirus, that's all I wanted to do. I spent two years so far taking pre-nursing classes to be accepted into the ASN program at NIC, and I have already been denied from said program twice. I applied for a third time, and hopefully the last time, this past month for the Spring 2024 semester and I hear back in November. I am anxiously and excitedly waiting for the results and I have high hopes this time around. I dream of someday having those two letters by name and being able to make important decisions for my patients. I hope to someday work in pediatrics or perhaps the pediatric ER, PICU, or NICU. I currently work with adults and geriatric patients, but I love the idea of working with children at a children's hospital or the NICU unit and having the joy of nursing babies back to health so their families can take them home. It would be my dream to help people in general as a nurse. I want to make an impact in other people's lives and try my absolute hardest to see sick people go home safely and in better health. I know there are bad angles in healthcare and you don't see rainbows and sunshine every shift, I would know that already from working at my hospital. That's life, and life is sad and unfair, of course, I won't be able to heal every single patient I care for, but that doesn't mean I can't make even those who are suffering more comfortable, less in pain, and provide them with the utmost peace and compassion. That is what being a nurse is truly about.