Throughout my younger life I was raised in a steadily religious household and held basic moral principles, however, I feel there comes a time within the formational time of becoming college-aged where each individual begins to search for why they hold the beliefs they do, and begin on a journey of self-discovery that will shape their beliefs and passions for the rest of their lives. In my own life, the real turning point was deciding to attend a “Kansan’s For Life” weekend retreat with a friend and the girl I liked at the time. Initially, I was attending more to spend time with the people I went with; I knew I held the belief that all life was precious, but didn’t necessarily understand why. Throughout the retreat, me and my friends went through education and training to be able to defend these beliefs I honestly didn’t know much about, as well as hear testimonies from mothers who had either lost their children through abortions, or had even survived abortions themselves! These deep and personal stories along with learning simple truths like how after just 5 weeks in the womb, the new embryo’s heart will begin to beat, and after just twelve will become coordinated enough to suck their own thumb. Hearing these simple facts completely changed the way I now think about why I am pro-life, this whole experience breathed life into what had before just been echoed to me by my parents; now, it started to become MY belief. After being equipped with this information, the group headed out to one of the biggest nearby colleges and set up a booth. Some of us stayed behind at the simple booth on the edge of a sidewalk talking to those interested and giving them more information and resources to further pursue these truths. The other groups began walking around the campus and asking those willing if they wanted to have a conversation on the subject of human life. We began by relating with these students on their beliefs on the equality of human beings, whether that be by the color of their skin, their gender, or their religious beliefs, it is only natural to desire equality. After this, we began to dig into the more difficult topics on the value of life and when these students believed that life became truly valuable. Though we endured yelling, cursing, and other obscenities from angry students, I found that most of them would state a belief, and when asked why they held that belief, they would simply say, they didn’t really know why, it just sounded right, and were more than happy to accept the resources we gave them so they could really understand why they believe what they do. Many students were giving scientific reasons why fetus’ and embryo’s weren’t truly alive and therefore were not human, but they were almost shocked and became interested when we presented science-backed reasons of why the exact opposite is true. This, along with building trust and relationships with these students, I truly believe changed hearts, even if just a few that day, and through loving conversations with those close to me and anyone who will listen, I plan to continue to share this passion for life instilled in me through this simple, yet beautiful, retreat.

My passion for nursing sparked from the desire to help others and impact change through the work I do on a daily basis, no matter what kind of day I have. I started working in nursing in a long-term care dementia unit in a care home as soon as I turned 18, and have been working in the nursing field ever since. I currently work as a patient care technician in a local hospital in a cardiac, surgical step-down unit assisting in patient recovery after open heart surgeries. A passion in nursing I am currently working on becoming certified to work in is to work in a pediatric oncology unit as I have had personal experience with loved ones being treated there. I would very much like to further my career in a good nursing program with a good formational environment, and I am exited to continue my journey through nursing. In the future, I plan to go into a masters program to acquire my NP and work as a nurse practitioner and continue my work in the nursing field.

My passion for nursing first sparked from the desire to do work that has meaning and helps people on a daily basis no matter how my day goes. I have been working in nursing since the day I turned 18, and strongly desire to continue to pursue this passion so that I can continue to help others through excellence in nursing as I grow in my skill sets and passion. I would like to pursue a career in pediatric nursing because I love working with children, and I want to make sure there are appropriate numbers of nurses to take care of pediatric patients as the staffing shortage goes on. I am passionate about pursuing pediatric nursing, and am in the process of receiving training to change units from my cardiac surgical step-down unit to the pediatric unit to gain experience. I have worked in geriatrics with dementia patients, psych patients, and cardiac patients, but I would love to gain experience and work in pediatric oncology as I feel that that field would bring the most fulfillment and have had experiences with loved ones spending time in the pediatric oncology unit. Thank you! -Jacob Gantt, Patient Care Technician, Wesley Medical Center, Main Campus