Personal Statement: A Career As A Career

What do you want to be when you grow up? This question is posed in every part of our childhood and adolescent life. This question is asked by teachers, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and our parents alike. Everyone wants to know what you want to be. Is it a ballerina? A police officer? A doctor? A lawyer? A city office worker? As the question is asked by different people so are the choices of career we choose along the way. I had my mind made up when I was in primary school and despite the ups and downs known as life, I continue to work towards that goal. The question was asked by my teacher for a career day assignment. When I was in school these were a big deal because your mom or dad got to come in and speak about their jobs. Before

What career field interests you? I thought back to those crayons and instantly came up with nurse again. So from that point I was tracked in high school to go into the medical field. I got to study biology, chemistry, pharmacology and other classes with -gy and -ly on the end of them. I went to vocational school and got hands on experience and took college courses I loved every second of it. I got to dissect pigs and frogs and compare the body systems to humans. I had to practice taking blood and finding the veins in volunteers arms. I am still very good at this aspect of nursing and would make a fine Phlebotomist. Fast forward four years and I hear my name called at the Nutter Center for graduation. The voice said “Heather Wickman Allied Health” I knew at this point I was going to be a

Some liked working in the ER others in pediatrics. I had to start somewhere and for me that start was a group home and home health care for developmentally disabled adult women. Now I had stories of my own that may top some of my mom’s from the breakfast table. I really enjoyed helping those women with simple day to day life things as well as during the difficult and stressful times. That is where I learned that patience that my mother must have had when working those “crazy nights” as she would call them. After about a year of working in a career that I had come to love, I shifted gears and careers and moved to Italy.

When I got to Italy I did not do much with nursing. I had become a nanny for an American family and my nursing skills were only needed when one of the children managed to fall and scrape a knee or get a stomachache. I traveled throughout Italy from Venice to Rome and everywhere inbetween. Despite being worldly I knew I had to get back to being what I have always wanted to be a nurse. I moved back stateside and needed to save some money for college. So that I could earn my bachelors in nursing and finally live out that crayon