Life can be filled with many possibilities, mine is to help people get better. I chose to go into the nursing industry for one goal. A goal that I would like to achieve throughout my undergrad. The feeling of accomplishment when one’s patient gives you an update on their life and tells you that they can do the activity they couldn’t do before or says thank you for saving their life. That would be my goal, to hear those words from a patient that they are in good health. I would like to go into the pediatric field of nursing. This helps me connect with younger patients and their families. Provide them with resources for their child and make sure they are growing up in a healthy state. Currently, I got hired for an internship in the same town as my university. The internship is a non-profit organization that helps out the community of Yamhill County, especially the Latinx families. This organization is called Unidos Bridging Community. I’m grateful for this opportunity to get to work at a professional job and see what an organization does to outreach farm-working families that don’t get the support or don’t know how to look for help when it comes to their health. For this internship, I get to work alongside the health coordinator and reach out to families about signing up for the Oregon Health Plan insurance and making sure they have filled out the application to see if they or their families can qualify for free medical insurance. It all depends on the income they make per month. I’ve come along for the past couple of weeks working with Unidos in different vineyards or agricultural farm work. Many employees have mentioned that going to a hospital or clinic to get checked out is something that worries them because they don’t want to spend a lot of money when they consider themselves healthy. Therefore, hearing those words from the agricultural farm workers made me realize that another reason they won't go in to get checked up is because they don't speak English. It's hard for the professional and the patient to communicate with each other during their visit. A patient can hesitate in going in just to get checked up on their health. I would recommend they go in at least once a year for the reason they are working under the heat or cold weather and making sure they are taking precautions for themselves. Furthermore, I would love to help anyone that feels in that situation. I understand from a Latina perspective that some of these cases come from my family. The feeling of not understanding what’s in the community to help them achieve their goal of going to a hospital and getting treated. Provide each patient with information that they could use for their benefit. If I would want to keep track of going to the pediatric pathway, this would be a similar route to what I’m doing in my internship. I would speak to the patient's parents about their child's health and try to nurture them into taking care of healthy development at a young age. I will take on the responsibility to take care of my community and be able to provide information in both English and Spanish. Not only that yet I would make a difference in one's life and make them feel safe during their visit.

When one door closes, the other opens. I come from a family that works in an agricultural environment. I'm a first-generation student, a Mexican-American student at Linfield University in McMinnville, Oregon. As of right now, I'm wanting to major in nursing to become a pediatric nurse and go back to my hometown in Albany, Oregon to help out my community in health care. My family has been my priority. Not many people see the gift from their family members can bring into one's life. I see it that way because my mom and dad, have always been able to provide me with food, shelter, and personal items. Now as well with my education. Even if it's a struggle to think of the expenses just to think of paying. My parents will do anything for me. My parents are immigrants, they are from Oaxaca, Mexico in a small town called Chalcatongo. They both came here for one goal, to be able to provide their future kids the necessary education they need to be successful. They both went up to middle school because both of their parents couldn't afford to pay for school supplies or their classes. They wished they could continue with more of their education and be more curious about the world. At least my mom thought of that dream. They just knew that living in a small town in Mexico wouldn't be enough to provide their future kids with an opportunity to get an education. Mexico's door closed and the United States opened. From migrating one country to another was one of the challenges it came with it. The English language was difficult to master for both of them. They both lost hope in continuing with their education once they got to the U.S. There was one thing they didn’t lose hope for their first child. They would work hard enough so I can get the right education they never had before. For the past 20 years of my parent's life, they both had to work in an agricultural environment out far away from my hometown. For them working was almost working all week, minimum wage, a little over 40 hours per week, and under the unexpected weather. I knew that wasn’t something I would like to experience growing up. Today, we are still living in a very limited spot where my younger sisters can go running around all day in the backyard. My family is renting an apartment because that's what they can provide for their family. Sometimes I can see my mother's face and how she feels disappointed because she's not able to provide me with my room as a young adult. I always tell her that's okay because if I can stay over during the weekends, I'm glad I can be with them. I'm currently a pre-nursing student, and my responsibility once I graduate with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing, I could now head back to my hometown and help my community. My job will be to help out the Latinx community with my Spanish-speaking fluency. This is a way that I give help to my community. The way they can go to the doctor is to feel better and make sure they don't feel alone or distressed because they don't know the language. My door is open, I will do my best to bring the healthcare environment a better place for my Spanish-speaking patients. I want them to come in and feel like they are not alone, even if they don't know the language, they can come in and get the help they need.

A strong heart with big dreams of helping others in need. I'm a student at Linfield University in McMinnville, Oregon. I come from an agricultural labor family that works under heat and cold throughout the years. I'm the first in my family to go to college which makes me a first-generation student. I will do my best to complete my BSN at Linfield University within four years. My interest in why I choose to go into nursing would be to make other people feel safe and healthy, and the need to be understood in the community. My family can relate when it comes to speaking English in a healthcare environment. It’s a struggle for Hispanic communities to go into a hospital environment because they are afraid the nurses or doctors won’t understand them by trying to explain what they are going through. I was at a pharmacy not so long ago because I needed to pick up my prescription. A Hispanic man was explaining what was going on about his health. The pharmacist wasn’t sure or did not know exactly what he was trying to say. She was looking at me as if she wanted me to come over and help him out. I was standing behind this man and for a minute I thought to myself if I should. Furthermore, he reworded what he was trying to say and he ended up getting help from the pharmacist. This story shows that there are not many bilinguals working in the medical field. I want to be a part of the 9% of Hispanics working as registered nurses according to Pew Research. This is a time to show the world that I could make a small difference in a patient's life and do my best for them to feel better again. The joy in feeling that no matter what background one may come from, just to be heard correctly in any circumstances. The field of nursing I would like to head to once I graduate and pass the exam is to head into labor and delivery, pediatric nursing or family clinic nursing. I would see myself going to a pediatric nurse more than my other options. Be able to interact with the younger patient and their guardian and make that connection. When I was a kid, having two younger siblings than me. I remember going to doctor's appointments with my mom and both of my sisters. I would see how the nurse would treat my family and answer any questions my mom would have. To see how the nurse would treat my family is powerful to me because I would like to see a similar view when I get my first job as a nurse. I want to be a change in my family and other families that are also Spanish-speaking families. It’s important for them to feel like they should be afraid of coming into the office for the reason they might not know how to speak English. How I would prepare myself for this step of nursing would be to follow my instincts. Do what is best when it comes to my success, and try not to follow or make no one will interfere with my pathway. Next year, I will be heading to the nursing campus in Portland, Oregon. This will be a great challenge therefore, my hometown is almost two hours away. This makes me away from my greatest supporters. However, this will not hold me back from completing my dream job. As a hero of mine has once said before: With Great Powers, Comes Great Responsibilities.

This has been my wildest dream ever since I was a kid. I still remember when the 1989 album came out. I was only 10 years old hearing some singles coming out and getting my imaginary microphone out to jam out the songs. I was the only kid around in my home besides my toddler sister who crawled around. Yet I would always imagine I was in my little music video or a stadium performing in front of a crowd. The music video Bad Blood had me enjoying the lyrics and the video was phenomenal. All of Taylor's friends were there and the moment I saw Selena, she brought the most joy to my face. Now let's get to the point, my favorite song from the album 1989 yet this has to be one of the most difficult decisions because every song from this album is very special which makes it difficult to choose which one is my favorite. However, I have to go with Style. Both the music video and just the song have something that brought me the most attention. Yet, as a fan, I do believe that this song was written for Harry Style after the breakup. This makes me believe that it's one of the reasons why I consider this one of my favorites. Midnights make me go back in time and think about the good in life. To hear that she starts with those words made me create my scenario of a love life. This might not be an all-nighter party, but an unfortunate breakup and remembering what one has done together throughout the relationship. I can still remember as a kid when the music video came up. I sat there and wanted things to be quiet so I could pay attention to all the details going on in the music video. I just started middle school, I didn't know anyone in my class because I just transferred to a new school with other new classmates. However, I saw this cute boy in class and he was taller than me and had slightly long nice hair. Furthermore, this song would come up in my head and hope that we would end up having a similar experience. That did not happen nor we talked to each other during the school year. I hoped that I could relate to the song a little more in life. I just wanted to have a song that I could see someone in life that could make my day go by wondering if I will ever meet a cute guy that was interested in me. However, I never lost hope in finding a guy that would take me out for some midnights late drives in town. When it comes to songs for me, I usually seek songs that have a meaning to Taylor’s life or in a time that comes from love to heartbreak or vice versa. As I’m considered a hopeless romantic in life. I rely on most of Taylor’s because she is such an amazing artist that brings her music to life or hides secret easter eggs or messages in her music videos. This song I could connect to even back in my pre-teen until now as a young adult and know that there is someone now in my life that reminds me of James Dean daydream when I look into his eyes. Overall, Styles will forever be my favorite song in the 1989 album because it contains a lot of my pre-teen era that I didn’t know much about.

I plan on going forward in the medical field and becoming a registered nurse. This is something that I have been dreaming of doing since I was a little kid. Yet, back then, I wasn’t sure what type of career I wanted to achieve, there were so many options to hop on, but there was something about the medical field that caught my attention. As a kid, I went to a lot of doctor's appointments because I got sick often. It never scared me in going because the doctors and nurses were very kind to me and gave me good medication to treat my sickness. I was very satisfied with the work they had done for me. Once I had siblings around the house, my mom and I would also take them to the doctor for their vaccines or yearly check-ups. I always admire the doctor's work, and the nurses as they would always be honest about her work situation and give the best advice for her patients. That’s something that I would like to bring on to infants, children, teens, adults, and older adults in the future. There is nothing more than making sure everyone feels comfortable going into the office and not being afraid to come in just to get a quick check-up. As many aren’t feeling the best feeling going in to see a doctor. I would be a great advantage to this field of nursing. I’m bilingual, I speak Spanish and English fluently. I still remember going to the hospitals or clinics where they did not have anyone who would help translate any information for my mom. Doctors that there wouldn’t understand anything mom was trying to explain to them or vice versa. It was hard to communicate with them. In this case, my mom would avoid going in because there wouldn't be anyone who would be able to translate. My goal is to make a change to the medical field, seeing that smaller towns have fewer Spanish-speaking nurses, and having this opportunity in my hands I would use it for many families. Right now, I'm planning on heading into the pediatric area with my bachelor's degree and with my master's degree to head into family primary care as a nurse practitioner. This would be my ideal 10-year plan after graduation by bringing the best to clinics or hospital areas. I'm beyond excited to be part of the community of registered nurses in the future. To make sure that everyone that I will be attending as my patients, will be treated and understood at every given time.