The Importance Of Growing Up In Foster Care

No doubt, growing up in foster care is difficult for any child, especially when you are the oldest of seven children. Your siblings well being is a constant concern in the forefront of the mind, even placed before personal happiness. Multiple homes and lacking a consistent reality can break you down emotionally and make you feel as small as rice. Making the conscious decision to grow from your personal adversities is rewarding, fulfilling, and makes one realize their true self worth. I personally know what it is like to feel very small, but continue to work hard, not only to better myself but to set an example for the people around me including my younger siblings.
Foster homes are crowded, loud, and they constantly make you feel like you are being overlooked. It takes a lot of strength and inner trust to keep pushing yourself towards the right path and continue to focus on a better future. I have struggled every day to stay in school and stay motivated to make a better life for myself. Thankfully, something inside my heart kept me going.
I take pride in certain personality traits that I have learned to posses. Once my inner fire has been lit nothing has the ability to extinguish it, except myself is I choose. I have been told on multiple occasions that I push myself too hard and that I expect

too much of myself too quickly. I fell that statement is false. I wake up everyday with the mind set that today I will better myself, today I will succeed, today I will make progress towards my ultimate goal!
When I turned eighteen on December 29th 2014, I made the decision to immediately invest in my future, by continuing my education.

I had finally settled into living on my own and was doing well adjusting from my life in the foster system. I went to PIMA Medical Institute to speak with the admissions counselor, who worked out a schedule for me and had my classes starting two weeks from that meeting. I committed myself to the next step of my education. The only exception I gave myself were the breaks from school and studying that I used to work two jobs as a server at Red Robin and Chili’s Bar and Grill. I worked day and night, ending my vocational course with a 3.7

GPA.
Pima Medical Institute changed my life. It gave me a career to look forward to. It allowed me to set future goals and gave me the hope that one day soon I would be in a more favorable financial and emotional state. My instructors were patient, genuine, and never gave up on keeping me on the course of graduation. At the end of my program, I was awarded perfect attendance and a 4.0 GPA in two of the three blocks of the program.
My last semester at PIMA I worked hard to step out on my own to find the specific externship site that I wanted which is working in dermatology. I applied for externship at multiple clinics with high hopes in sight. Finally the clinic that I wanted to extend my education with contacted me and informed me that if I accepted I would be able to start on December 8th 2014. I knew that I could successfully complete this next obstacle in my life. I never gave up. This opportunity was what I had been waiting for, the help to start my adult life.
After completing my externship I gained enough experience to obtain lucrative employment in a field that I love. I am currently working as a Medical Assistant at Colorado Springs Dermatology, where I assist in surgeries, clinical duties and cosmetic procedures. Making the decision and following through with my personal goal to continue my education changed my life for the better. I am excited that the decision to start on the pathway toward my Bachelor degree in nursing will do nothing less.