Ethan Anticevich
2015 UCLA Graduate Scholarship Recipient
University of California Los Angeles | School of Nursing
My name is Ethan Anticevich and I grew up in Simi Valley, California with my identical twin brother. I recieved my Bachelor’s degree in political science from California State University, Northridge. I had the opportunity to study abroad in Aix en Provence, France and lived with a host family and learned French for a year and was able to travel all over Europe during my holidays. When I returned to California, with an itch to see the world, I received a scholarship to study at Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada. Meeting people from around the globe and being exposed to new ideas opened up my world and pushed me to see even more of it.
After I graduated from California State University, Northridge, I joined the Peace Corps and was sent to Ouedema, Benin in the western region of Africa. Having learned French in college, I was placed in a French speaking country. Living in a small village in Africa, without electricity or running water was very difficult, but I enjoyed the challenge of being a secondary school English teacher. While there, I was involved with various public health campaigns about HIV, AIDS and nutrition. It was here, that I became interested in the health care field.
Upon finishing my two years in Africa with the Peace Corps, I still wanted to travel so I was able to secure a position with the Japanese government as an assistant English teacher. I lived in Japan for the next tree years teaching English as a primary and secondary language. After my contracted ended in Japan and having visited over thirty countries around the world, I decided to return to California and enter the health care field.
Throughout my time working on my prerequisites and during my studies at the UCLA School School of Nursing, I was working in the health care field to gain further experience and skills to ultimately deliver a higher level of care to my future patients. I became certified as a Nurse Assistant and then an Emergency Medical Technician. I currently have a position in the Surgical Recovery Room at Providence Holy Cross as a Surgical Tech and also work as an ED Technician at Huntington Memorial Hospital. Both of these jobs have been perfect, as I worked with nurses who were willing to explain their trade to me, it really reaffirmed my belief that I wanted to become a nurse.
UCLA is an amazing school and I highly value my time there. The highlights of my two years were getting to experience nursing rotations in 10 different hospitals in the Los Angeles area, my three month internship at Keck Medical Center of USC in a Medical Intensive Care Unit, and earning a scholarship to visit Cuba on a Public Health tour with the UCLA School of Nursing. I highly value my time spent at UCLA earning my Masters of Science in Nursing.
In my first year of nursing school, I married my long-time girlfriend (who is a critical care pediatric nurse at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles) and we have settled down in South Pasadena. When I can find some free time, I volunteer with Meals on Wheels in Pasadena, I like to study Spanish, which is a fun language and very important in health care in L.A., go hiking in the San Gabriel Mountains, and travel with my wife.
I am currently studying to take my boards at the end of the month and finally begin working as a Registered Nurse.
It has been a long journey, but I’ve learned so much and had so many amazing experiences, which was definitely worth it. I am very grateful to your organization for your financial support, which contributed to my education and enabled me to attend the UCLA School of Nursing.
