These photos were taken during my senior year of high school when I was seventeen. It was life-changing for me because it was a moment in which I became more bold and confident in myself. Before these pictures, I had extremely low self-confidence, and I did not like taking pictures whatsoever. My confidence was so low that I believed I could not be as beautiful as other girls my age. When I went back to school on Monday, after taking these photos, my confidence shot up, and I immediately realized I am beautiful with or without makeup.

My first semester of nursing school at Prairie View A&M University was the most tremendous hardship I have had to endure yet. It was a wake-up call that, unfortunately, nursing school would not be as easy as I had hoped for. Nevertheless, I had to earn my B.S.N. My first semester started in the summer of 2020. During the summer semester, I took Pathophysiology and an elective nursing course. I took these courses in the summer to ease myself into nursing school for the fall; however, taking Pathophysiology came with trials and tribulations. Since summer semesters are shorter than the fall or spring, the information I had to learn was condensed to fit the short amount of time we were provided in the summer. Another consequence of this is that the class hours were long, and we had to complete an exam every other week. In Pre-Nursing, I was accustomed to anywhere between a 60-minute lecture and a two-hour lecture. However, when I received my schedule for the summer, I received a huge surprise. I now had to sit through lectures for four hours straight! Going through that was mentally exhausting. In addition, right after learning a new topic that week, we were scheduled to take an exam the following week. It was definitely a trial. I had to make a plethora of adjustments. I had to adjust my engagement in lectures, which included being more active in discussions. I had to change the way I took notes and increase the amount of time I had to study outside of class. I also had to make adjustments to my study environment. Sadly while I was making these adjustments, it was already time for the first exam. I had an intense fear about whether or not if I would succeed or not on my first exam. I was still in the middle of making my adjustments to do exceptionally well on my exams. It did not help that I was and still am the type of person to be very critical of myself, so failing this exam would be a recipe for disaster. All I could do was put in the work by studying 10 hours a day and making sure I prayed to God that I would do well on my exam. Exam day arrived, and to say the least, it was far from exciting. Instead, I was nervous, anxious, and scared, which was not a good combination of emotions before an exam. However, after taking the exam, it felt as if a weight lifted off my shoulders, and I could somewhat relax for the day. My professor shortly after released the grades. Thus, my first triumph of nursing school was receiving a B for my first pathophysiology exam. Sadly, I had some setbacks after the first exam. For the following two exams, I received C's. Finally, for the fourth exam, I received a B with some assistance from a classmate on study techniques. The hardest part was that I could not pinpoint how to take these exams or what type of material my professor would question us on. Moreover, there was a great deal of pressure for the final exam to receive an A in the course. I had to get at least a 90 on the final exam. To ensure the success of my goal, I implemented various studying methods. This included taking more detailed notes, using YouTube as a resource to study specific topics, and using flashcards to help me retain and understand what we were learning. I also made sure to pray daily because, with God, anything is possible. When the time came to take my final exam, all those feelings from the first exam begin to hit me like a mighty wind. I had to make sure I got myself together because all of these feelings would hurt my performance. So, I got myself together and pushed through. Thankfully through the grace of God, I received an A. Although it was only my first semester of nursing school, it was a moment in my life in which I knew I wanted to be a nurse and that I needed to obtain my degree.