By Tish Dorman
Adjunct Faculty, College of Nursing and Health Care Professions

My aunt was a labor and delivery nurse. When I was a little girl she would dress me up in a nurse’s uniform, complete with cap and blue cape even though I repeatedly told her that I wasn’t going to be a nurse. After I graduated from high school and began my first year of community college I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do. My mother said it was “time to do something with my life.” My response was, “I guess I will be a nurse.” Little did I know then that nursing was my calling. Once I started my clinical rotations, I fell in love with nursing.

By Joanne Senn
Adjunct Faculty, College of Nursing and Health Care Professions

When I was a girl, my father was a hospital administrator who started off as a medic in the army. When he retired, he ran a nursing home and would often take me, giving me a feel for hospitals and healthcare at a young age. It was these experiences early on, as well as the fact that my two older sisters were nurses, that shaped my decision to go into nursing.

By Leslie Minjarez
Adjunct Faculty, College of Nursing and Health Care Professions

I decided to pursue a career in healthcare in high school. My favorite classes had always been math, chemistry and biology but during my senior year I got mononucleosis and ended up in the hospital for a week. While there this incredible nurse took care of me. She was pretty, wore a pink uniform and was always so nice to me, making me feel better every time she came to check on me. I knew then that I wanted to become a nurse.

Challenges and Rewards

I enrolled in a Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) program right out of high school. When I finished my BSN, my plan was to enroll in a master’s program but I was not sure what I wanted to do. I loved working with cancer patients at the time and immediately began to work on a difficult unit with patients experiencing complex medical problems.