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Henry Rodriguez

585

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1x

Finalist

Bio

My father fell incredibly ill at the beginning of 2022 to present day and there has never been a more troubling time in my life. But yet I did not give up on him nor my family, I took up whatever responsibility I need to and started working longer hours to help out as much as possible. I started paying the bills and mortgage, take my younger siblings to school, learn how to cook for them and did all the responsibilities that follow with being the head of the house. This should give a good indication of the type of person I am. That even with challenges and issues facing me I will adapt and not give up on the people who supported me and believed in me. I believe that I also tend to bring those attributes to my studies, especially since my father fell ill, I still had to keep going to school and excelling academically. I was recently accepted into the nursing program at Purdue Northwest and after seeing everything my father had to go through when he was in the hospital and could barely even hold a cup of water, I had my mind set that nursing was for me. I wanted to help all the other dads and loved ones out there who have just had a bad stroke of luck. I want to be in that hospital treating people and helping them get better. But I know that is going to take a lot of effort and time to become a nurse, and I honestly feel like it is not going to be a problem. My motivation is higher than ever and now with my father on the mend I can now focus just a little bit more on my academic studies. I will become the son that my father almost didn’t see.

Education

Purdue University Northwest

Associate's degree program
2022 - 2025
  • Majors:
    • Registered Nursing, Nursing Administration, Nursing Research and Clinical Nursing
  • Minors:
    • Behavioral Sciences

Thornton Fractional North High School

High School
2015 - 2019

Miscellaneous

  • Desired degree level:

    Bachelor's degree program

  • Graduate schools of interest:

  • Transfer schools of interest:

  • Majors of interest:

  • Planning to go to medical school

    • Career

    • Dream career field:

      Hospital & Health Care

    • Dream career goals:

    • Certified Nursing Assistant

      South Holland Manor Health and Rehab center
      2019 – Present5 years

    Sports

    Soccer

    Club
    2019 – 20201 year

    Awards

    • regional trophy

    Research

    • Psychology, General

      University of Illinois at Chicago — intern/participant
      2019 – 2020

    Public services

    • Volunteering

      St. Francis — Supply and distributor at the church
      2017 – 2021

    Future Interests

    Advocacy

    Volunteering

    Philanthropy

    Entrepreneurship

    Deacon William E. Johnson Sr. Memorial Scholarship
    One person who has had an enormous impact on my life was the pastor of my church. I go to St. Francis Catholic Church and I have been going there ever since I was 7. One of the major things that influenced my life to spend some time with the church was the catholic school that my parents had me attend. Since the church is not big the pastor was also the teacher. Through his teaching and his passion for religion, he managed to influence me to be open-minded and more accepting of others. One of the aspects of attending church school too was the required 20 hours of community service. Which was another great aspect of the church because in those 20 hours I managed to fall in love with being able to help those around me and uplift people who need it. I volunteered at food drives, clothes drives, and soup kitchens all because of those introductory 20 hours. Through all this volunteering I managed to get closer to the pastor and eventually came to trust him with many of the different things that were going on in my life. Eventually, I started to talk to him about major decisions that I had to encounter such as what college to go to or what job to work. So even with all those big decisions we talked about he always lent an ear and gave me the best possible answer he could that came from the bottom of his heart. The pastor helped me see through all my volunteering and our conversations that I should become a Nurse and he set me on this career path. Soon after he set me on this path my father fell ill and I would have had to quit school in other to take charge of all the bills and the house. But once again the pastor ended up helping me out by holding up a donation at the church and allowed people to help us in our time of need just as I had helped them. The pastor has been a hugely influential person in my life and I hope to one day be able to repay him and the community once again for everything he has ever done for me and my family. Once I do become a nurse I plan on helping and treating those who cannot afford treatment or help and giving proper medical advise for all situations.