WeRPN Award in Nursing Excellence
I decided to become a nurse because I’ve always had a passion for helping people. In my previous career, I worked in customer service and software support roles helping people with their daily tasks. My path to nursing school has been anything but linear. I was thinking of going back to school for nursing in 2017 and decided to take a prerequisite biology course online. One week before my final exam, I was in a car accident that left me with a severe concussion and eventually post-concussion syndrome. At this point, I thought my chance at nursing school was over. However, in 2018 I had finally recovered enough to go back to work, I started a new job and slowly regained self-confidence. In early 2021 I decided to re-take the biology pre-requisite and see how it went, I decided if my grades were high enough that I would apply to nursing school and see what happened. Sure enough, I did well in the biology class which increased my confidence and I made the decision that it was the right time for me to go to nursing school. I’m in my second year of Practical Nursing at St. Lawrence College and I plan to complete the bridge to BScN after graduating. I’m most interested in working with children, either at CHEO, in a NICU, or in a Labor and Delivery capacity. I also have a special interest in eating disorders and hope to pursue work in that area later in my career. I am honoured to receive the WeRPN Award in Nursing Excellence on behalf of the CNF. I take great pride in being a CNF scholar and will continue to work at maintaining my high academic record and acting as a leader both on campus and within my program.