When I decided to attend Saint Louis University, I was unable to major in Nursing due to when I had applied, so I decided to major in Pre-Nursing until there was room to transfer into Nursing. After almost a year and a half later, filled with many ups and downs, I opened an email that I had been hoping for but not anticipating.

It read: “Congratulations, after careful review and consideration, you have been accepted into the School of Nursing.” I’ll be honest and be the first to admit that I did not see that email coming my way that Monday morning. I will also be the first to admit that when reading this email, I immediately burst into tears of happiness. It was something I had always hoped and dreamed of and had been waiting for, but it seemed very distant as the semesters passed by from when I first came to SLU. Coming into SLU, there were many miscommunications and my first advisors were leaving for different colleges which complicated things. While they were nice, they did not have the necessary time to fill out the paperwork for my transfer so as first semester rolled into second and second rolled into third and finally, fourth, it became harder and harder to transfer into the School of Nursing. My third semester was filled with unbelievable ups and downs and was by far my hardest semester in college but not because of my classes, those were a lot of hard work and dedication but fun nonetheless. My third semester was harder than the rest simply because of what life had decided to throw at me. One serious bad breakup led into months of depression which were spent healing during a couple hours of counseling sessions and months of thinking and overthinking.

Nevertheless, this article wasn’t meant to dwell on the past. It’s to show those who may have doubted me that I was able to get back on my feet and I got up anyways because I knew I could not and would not allow myself to quit on my dream. I worked hard and fought even harder for so long and was finally accepted into the School of Nursing. I burst into tears when I realized what I was actually reading because I was overjoyed; it was what I had wanted and had been hoping for. I spent so many months contemplating things like what if things don’t work out here? Where else I could transfer to and is it nearby? Do I want to start over somewhere else or should I just suck it up and graduate with a different major and go back to school for Nursing? Do I really have to leave Theta and my friends to make things work out?

To everyone that believed in me, I cannot tell you what it meant to me to receive that email and to have received your continued support. It proved to me that someone finally believed that I have the potential to be a great nurse someday. It validated all of the hard work and effort I put into my classes. It made me feel ecstatic that someone who had the ability to help me achieve my goal believed in me, even though my friends and family already did. More importantly, it brushed away any doubts I was having about staying at SLU because of people telling me I was just wasting my time and money. Those same people told me I had chosen the wrong career and frequently asked why couldn’t I just do something else?

Here’s why to any of you who might’ve wondered the same thing, especially to those who were already in the program and have been watching me go through the same classes as you but just couldn’t get a break; this is my passion and if I could not become a nurse, I would not be following my dream. Growing up, I was surrounded by my mother, who is a nurse, and my sisters who have since aspired and worked hard to become nurses themselves. It’s not true that I did choose to follow nursing simply because of my family or because it seemed like the “only option.” I knew that I wanted to be able to make a difference in people’s lives and this was always my choice. Having the opportunity to take a CNA course my senior year of high school and then becoming certified as a CNA encouraged me even further. I knew I wanted to help people since I was young and I wanted to be able to give back in a way like those who had helped me in the NICU when I was born 26 weeks premature. This is my passion and it’s all I have ever dreamed of becoming and I was not going to decide to “just do something else” because of this. Now, I’m finally able to accomplish this dream because of the opportunity I have been given. I cannot express how unreal it feels to be able to call myself a Nursing Student.

I’d also like to say thank you to those who have believed in me from the start, especially my family who has always been there to encourage me and believe in me. I persevered because of your belief in me. Now it’s time to prove myself and to show those who believed in me that I will become an amazing, hardworking nurse.