It all started 6 short years ago. A freshly graduated high school senior, confused and scared about my future with more baggage than necessary for a child. On an athletic scholarship at my junior college I distracted my anxieties through athletics, barely achieving the passing grades to continue sports. After a year of below average work I woke up one day with an epiphany; I wanted to be a nurse. I had already screwed up my GPA so badly, how was I ever going to compete with the THOUSANDS of 4.0 students who where applying. Five years of no nights out, and structured budgets. Five years of sacrifice and money spent on a bachelors degree for the soul purpose of getting into a BSN program and raising my GPA. Five years of poverty, discipline, shame when explaining my situation to family a friends, five years of fear of failure, and five years of worth of sweat blood and tears. I have made it. I have made it into one of the best BSN programs into the nation. At 24 I will be starting my final step, a day that I never thought would happen. Whatever you do whether you are 24, 34, 44, or 54, DO NOT GIVE UP. That is all I can say, please whatever you do, do not give up.
Congratulations to all those that have taken the first step or who have finished the last step, it is achievement that many people take for granted :)