Senior Dulce Mejia joined “The Rosette” Newspaper in hopes to gain a new experience and meet new people. Mejia enjoys spending her time following her older sister around, literally everywhere she goes, Mejia follows. She loves and appreciates her older sister and best friend who have been there for her, supporting all her bad decisions. Mejia is also involved in the CNA program. She plans to walk the stage and receive not only her PCT certificate but also her CNA certificate. Mejia has to accomplish her dream of becoming a registered nurse to be able to take care of her fur babies, Maui and Batman. Mejia is looking forward to learning more and expanding her writing skills
To Nurse or Not to Nurse?: Mejia’s journey with her love for nursing
Reported by: Sarah Tadesse
Every morning, she waits for what seems like a year as first period drones on. She gets through it knowing her favorite class is next in line. Second and third period is the highlight of her day as she walks in with an air of excitement, always thrilled by a new skill check and packet waiting for her patiently on the table near the door. Papers, others might find boring, sparks happiness in her as she gets through the latest skill check, knowing that every day is never the same.
Senior Dulce Mejia‘s love of the medical field has been something that has grown with her and shaped her personality most of her life.
It all begins with the hopes and dreams of a 10-year-old Mejia.
“It actually started with me wanting to be a doctor,” Mejia said. “I saw that they help people and take care of the patients while building a bond with them over time. Seeing that bond or connection they had with a patient really inspired me.”
It was only when she was a junior when she found her true love for nursing in the Patient Care Tech Class.
“Freshman year, when I got into the medical endorsement with Mrs. Ballard, I started to change and started realizing that I was more into nursing than being a doctor,” Mejia said. “I was in Mrs.Ballards Patient Care Tech (PCT) class last year and I really liked how we had these skill checks every week. She has these mannequins and we would just do skill checks on them like listening to their heartbeat and we would sometimes do this to other people in the class which was always fun for me. I felt really good in Mrs.Ballards class because she gives you the option to wear scrubs for PCT and I would always wear them because It would feel more like a nurse and on my way to becoming what I want.”
From there, with the help of Mrs. Ballard, Mejia began to narrow her profession down to travel nursing.
“It’s definitely a mixture of wanting to travel and also being a nurse,” Mejia said. ” So if they send me somewhere I haven’t been, I’m getting to visit somewhere new and help people at the same time.There wasn’t really anyone who made me want to become a travel nurse, It was just a thought process. If I want to travel and I want to be a nurse, what is out there that can help me do both?”
Mejia admits that she couldn’t have grown to this point alone.
“Mrs. Ballard is like a mentor and my guide in a sense because she’s really helpful.” Mejia said. “She’s helped a lot throughout the process. If I was too nervous for skill checks she would reassure me that everythings okay and that I was thinking about it too much. She would often encourage us to go with what we felt like we would do in that occasion. She’s just been really helpful throughout these years.”
In the end, travel nursing is what she knows she has to do for her own happiness.
“It makes me feel excited but nervous because I would be going to new places but there would be so many new things that I wouldn’t know about and I wouldn’t know what’s going on at the place I’m being sent to. I think it’s definitely just about helping people because theso many people that need the help and don’t have access to it, so having the ability to help them feel better is the most important thing to me.”
