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August 05, 2004

Nurse Jenny

If all goes as planned, in about four years, that'll be my title (well, technically it'll be Jennifer Kent, RN BSN.) I start classes for my nursing school pre-requisites at the end of September and I couldn't be more excited and motivated.

I have yet to attend college up until this point. Most of that was due to the fact that the state didn't consider me a resident and out-of-state tuition is outrageous, but part of that also had to do with the fact that I didn't know what I really wanted to do. I flirted with a few ideas and considered getting an AA and just transferring when the time came, but that didn't sit well with me. And I'm glad I didn't. If I had gone that route, I would have spent two years getting an AA and then had to go back to get my nursing pre-requisites done.

One day, after realizing at the doctors office I felt the need to (once again) chime in to Michael and our doctor my own diagnoses, questions, and other miscellaneous medical information, I once again realized my passion for the medical field that I had possessed in high school.

I thought for a while about what I could best contribute to, and exactly where my passion was, and realized the caring aspect of nursing very much appealed to me and fulfilled my desire to have an impact on someone's life through my career.

There were times in my childhood where my father was in the hospital more often than not. Being a little girl in that unfamiliar, cold, and scary place made me grow up with an appreciation for those people who did go out of their way to make that time at the hospital a little more comfortable. I remember nurses bringing my sister and I treats and snacks, blankets and books. They would let my family stay past visiting hours so we could spend more time with dad. Although the gestures weren’t much, the impact they had shaped me to be a much more sensitive, conscientious, caring person in that area of life.

And health and medicine is something I've always been very interested in. In my chemistry class, my teacher was going to be teaching a health class for the first time in her career. She printed up a health test and had us chemistry students be her guinea pig to see how easy the format of the test was. The test didn't count for a grade (obviously since we had no preparation for it and no knowledge we would be taking it) but we did grade them for fun. I got a 100% on it. I was the only person in the class to get above a 50%.

It made me proud that I was able to ace a test for a class that I never took up until that point, just because it was something I had interest in on the side.

I'm also excited by the variety in nursing. I plan on getting my master's at some point in my life and after that I can do anything from diagnosing and treating patients much like a doctor (Nurse Practitioner) to becoming a nursing teacher. Or I can go into researching, management, and midwifery. There's so much out there beyond doctor's offices and hospitals.

I plan on updating my progress monthly. I have so much to do to just get into the nursing school that I want (including volunteering hundreds of hours, training and becoming certified in certain things, and keeping my grades above 3.0) that I want to document my progress for myself, and maybe for other's who are interested in taking the same journey into the nursing field. So stay tuned for the exciting updates I'll have in store with you after I start volunteering (I start the 22nd of this month) and actually start my classes!

Posted by December at August 5, 2004 11:00 PM

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