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Finishing the Race: Christina Silveira’s Journey to a Nursing Degree

From a young age, Christina Silveira’s family lovingly gave her the nickname “Nurse Christina” as she has always had a heart for caring for others, especially her own mother, who is bound to a wheelchair due to multiple sclerosis. Growing up as a caregiver opened the pathway to developing crucial skills Christina needed to be an exceptional nurse. Now, as a recent graduate from a4yy��ҹ����’s first nursing cohort, she is on her way to doing exactly that.

Between her experience in caregiving and multiple family members working in healthcare, it’s no wonder how Christina found herself as an aspiring nurse. “I’ve always known I wanted to do nursing. I was born into it, you could say,” Christina explains. Her father was the one who introduced her to Jessup’s nursing program and, with persistence, she applied and gleefully accepted her admission to Jessup.

The nursing program covers a wide range of material, but Christina identifies that she’s “really interested in women’s health and could even see [herself] pursuing a doctorate as a nurse practitioner in women’s health.” One thing is for certain, nursing is Christina’s true passion. She emphasizes, “I really just love nursing. I have certain interests, but I could go anywhere and be happy.”

Between classes and clinicals, nursing students must learn at a fast pace, but a key strategy that Christina utilized was never being afraid to ask for help. Highlighting how accessible and supportive the nursing faculty were, Christina says, “my professors were phenomenal, all of them were super easy to talk to. I would text or email one of my professors and tell them ‘I’m really struggling’ and they would say ‘no problem, stay after class and we will figure it out,’” showcasing the true community-minded nature of the program.

Currently, Christina finds herself working as a home health nurse, a job she has held since last year while balancing work with school. It’s no easy feat to balance work and college, but Christina expresses her enjoyment in her work, especially getting to work alongside her father, who is a physical therapist that works in home health. Part of her duties include visiting clients to “help them with activities of daily living,” which undoubtedly prepares her for the array of tasks she will have as a nurse.

Aside from her work in home health, Jessup’s nursing program gave Christina real-world experience to prepare her for a successful career. “I loved the clinical rotations I was in,” she explains, “we had some really unique ones. We also had simulation labs, which were great and really challenging. They really made you think and give you hands-on experience that not everyone gets to do.”

Reflecting on her very first day of clinicals, Christina recalls a moment that affirmed her decision to pursue nursing. “I was at the VA (Veterans Affairs) doing CNA (Certified Nursing Assistant) work… I was feeding a patient and he had swallowing issues and trouble speaking. Every time he opened his mouth I noticed something on his tongue that looked like an infection.” Concerned that she wasn’t qualified to make a diagnosis due to it only being her first day of clinicals, Christina was nervous to inform the nurse of her observation. However, her studies paid off because “the nurse checked and verified that [Christina’s] diagnosis was correct and thanked [her] for noticing and letting her know.” Considering the impact of that moment, Christina is now able to recognize the difference that her actions made in the life of that patient, explaining that “because the patient can’t speak, I’m really glad that I could advocate for him.”

In that same mindset of advocating for others and providing the best care possible, Christina stresses the importance of treating patients like family, saying, “If I put my mother in another nurses’ hands then I would expect them to treat her like family, and if you don’t come into nursing with that mentality then you’re not going to be an excellent nurse. I don’t want to be a good nurse, or a great nurse, I want to be an excellent nurse. If there’s excellence to be made then why am I not striving for that?”

Envisioning her family and friends being present at her graduation, Christina exclaims, “it’s an honor to be in the blue scrubs and graduate, it’s like a badge of honor.” To reach graduation, Christina fixed her eyes on the race set before her and reflected on 2 Timothy 4:7, which says “I have fought a good fight, I have finished the race and I have kept the faith.” She further explains, “I kept thinking, ‘if I put God first then I am going to finish this race and I’m going to be a great nurse,’ and that was my constant reminder.”

Christina Silveira has now finished the race and reached graduation and passed her NCLEX exam, making her a Registered Nurse. From “Nurse Christina” in her family home to now in the workforce, Christina exemplifies what it means to pursue God’s calling on your life.

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To learn more about a4yy��ҹ����’s nursing program, please visit jessup.edu/academics/majors-programs/undergrad/nursing/ or email us at [email protected].