Nine years ago, my little brother was born six weeks prematurely and admitted to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at our local hospital; walking into the hospital to meet him for the first time, I set my heart on pursuing a job in the NICU, inspired by the community of nurses there who cared for my brother. When he was admitted, I witnessed firsthand the impact the nurses were able to have not only saving lives as they cared for tiny babies but also helping families as they walked alongside parents and siblings through such a difficult time. I saw the compassion and love with which the nurses served the newborns, and the need for the work that all nurses do as they care for not only patients' physical needs but each individual as a unique and special person. Though at the time, I did not fully understand the work I saw in that hospital, that experience planted a desire in my heart to serve in the same way when I grew up. Nine years later, I am pursuing that dream as I study hard to graduate with my BSN. I hope to find a job in the NICU when I graduate, where I can serve in this same capacity, working with the experience and skills I have learned in school and the workforce to expertly care for the lives of the newborns in the NICU, but also with empathy and love for the families who must face the unexpected and challenging circumstances of caring for a premature baby. I want to be a nurse because of the unique and powerful impact they can have as they carefully, lovingly, and skillfully, care for each patient who comes across their path. I know this career will not be an easy one, as I have heard and seen so many times, but it is also a necessary and rewarding position because each person deserves the same loving care that we would want for ourselves or those we love. As I continue my education, I look forward with excitement to the day when I will be at the bedside, more knowledgeable, more skilled, and more confident than I am now, but with just as much joy and desire as I have now thought ahead, and as I had a young girl, observing the hardworking nurses as they cared for my little brother and helped to love each patient and person who crossed their path.