My name is Kierra Tovar and I am going to school to become a Respiratory Therapist. I live in the beautiful state of Utah and go to school at Salt Lake Community College. I am 26 years old and have one daughter, whose name is Mila. Mila is my everything and I could not imagine life without her. She just turned 2 years old, so she is keeping me on my toes! Mila is a big reason that I decided to further my education and is the reason I work as hard as I do. Before I went back to school to become a respiratory therapist, I was working as a medical assistant at the University of Utah hospital. I became a medical assistant right after I graduated high school. I knew I always wanted to be in the medical field but I was having a hard time deciding what I wanted to do. I thought that being a medical assistant would be a good first step and it would get my foot in the door to explore more options. I worked at this job for 5 years before going back to school. I loved this job and it taught me many valuable skills, but also taught me how to be confident in myself and to pursue my dreams. That is when I decided to go back to school to further my education and obtain new skills in the healthcare field. I took an introduction class to respiratory therapy to see what this career was all about. I had heard of respiratory therapists before, but never knew the details of what the job entailed. During COVID is also when I started noticing respiratory therapists because they were working right along side the nurses and doctors, trying to save lives. After completing the intro course, I instantly fell in love with this profession. I knew that I had to pursue this for my career but that it was not going to be easy. When I told people I was going back to school for this they told me I was crazy and that it would be hard to manage being a mom, a student, and working. I did not let that discourage me and had to remind myself of the reasons why I want to do this. I am doing this career to save lives and to help people live the best lives possible. I am also doing this for my daughter, to show her that she can do anything she is passionate about and the importance of hard work.