Jennifer Solis
2020 - 2021 Scholarship Recipient
California State, Los Angeles | School of Nursing
From the start, I knew that this is what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. When I was little, I would always admire those who were in the professions that were for the benefit of others. Much of my time growing up would be spent at the hospital whether it was helping my dad recover from his knee surgeries or volunteering at Kaiser Permanente in their medical/surgical department and L&D. Of course, as a volunteer, my duties did not include many tasks, but I knew that even the small tasks would help give me that patient interaction that I was hoping to get out of this experience. There was a patient who went by J. He would brighten up my day and reminded me of my grandfather. Every day when coming to the hospital, I would sit down next to J and would have a conversation with him about his feelings and concerns he had but most importantly I would get to dedicate time to these patients.
On a Friday morning, I had just arrived to my department and headed to J’s room, but he was no longer there. A few hours later passed by and J’s wife was crying in the lobby, I decided to approach her to see if she needed anything and that’s where she gave me the devastating news that J had passed away. Before J’s wife left, she thanked me for taking care of her husband and said that he would always refer to me as his “little nurse”. Throughout the time I got to spend with J, he knew that nursing was a career that I hoped to pursue one day. That moment has to be one of the main reasons why I am pursuing a career in the nursing profession. The strong passion that I have towards helping others especially during the times when they are the most vulnerable and helpless has truly become motivation for me to better myself. To become a nurse would be to live my life doing something that I am passionate about which is working directly with people and continue impacting lives.
