A long time ago I had the opportunity to study to become a nurse but I decided not to pursue it. This is the story of why I made that decision back then and what I think about that decision now in retrospect.
My mother and father were separated and I ended up being raised by my grandmother in a village in Cavite Philippines. I remember I was very good student when I was younger. In elementary school I was always on the honour roll every single year. I took great pride in excelling in school and I made my grandmother proud too. As I got older, the friends I hung out with changed. My new friends were less interested in school and some of this attitude started to rub off on me. By the time I was in high school, I was more interested in having fun than in excelling in school. I lived for the moment and was not too concerned about my future. I had fun with my friends, stayed out late and enjoyed myself. When I graduated from high school, my father offered to pay for me to take a nursing degree at Saint Paul Manila. However, there were stipulations. I would have to leave my grandmother’s village of Naic and move far away to village called Imus. There I would live with two of my aunties. I would have a strict curfew. I would go to school and then come straight home everyday. This was a great opportunity but after some soul searching I decided that would I rather stay in Naic with my friends and my grandmother who was like a mother to me. So I went to a local college called De La Salle in Cavite instead of getting a nursing degree in Saint Paul Manila.
That was many years ago and I have regrets today that I did not seize the opportunity when it was offered. I often wondered if my life would have turned out better if I wasn’t so short-sighted in my youth. I realize now that life can be hard if you don’t have a good education to back you up. If you don’t have any specialized skills to offer an employee, then how can you expect to make much more than minimum wage.
That is why I chose to take the Hospital Support Specialist program at Stenberg. I have hopes and dreams for my two boys. I want to start a registered education savings plan for them. When they graduate from high school, they will not have to worry about not being able to afford to attend university as there will be an education fund waiting for both of them. Now my boys see me working hard on my homework and studying late into the night for my exams. They keep asking me why I have gone back to school and I tell them I am doing it for them. I hope that they are proud of me and that I am a role model for them. I hope they will learn from my experience and not take the easy path in terms of their education.
