From Calgary to Tucson: A Big Move Opened New Possibilities for Nursing Student, 《星际官方赌钱》杂志(Fortune)多米尼克

蒂娜·L. 杜伦，对外关系

Pima student 《星际官方赌钱》杂志(Fortune)多米尼克 says the College has helped her find her educational focus and make lots of friends. The 2021 Walden Grove High School graduate has lived in Arizona for five years since relocating with her family from Calgary, 阿尔伯塔省, Canada after her father got a job in Green Valley.

通过 Pima的JTED项目 at Walden Grove, Dominic was exposed to healthcare careers. JTED is a public career and technical education district for high school students. 作为一名大三学生, she took a JTED class that gave a general overview of health professions and earned a CPR certification. 她的大四, through a JTED Licensed Nursing Assistant class, 她获得了食品处理证书, caregiving and as a licensed nursing assistant. She later learned that she couldn’t use the certifications 工作 because she did not have the legal standing in the U.S. 工作. 然而，木已成舟.

“I knew from when I was in high school I wanted to be a nurse,”她说。.

最初, Dominic was leaning toward a pediatric nursing career, but lately has become interested in cardiovascular care. But, first things first – where to go to college?

“My senior year, I was not sure where I wanted to go to college,”她说。. “我想过回加拿大. As I started looking into it, I saw it would be hard. So, I asked around - friends and family and other people I knew - and they said, ‘go to Pima first.” Not long after she enrolled, her dad got a job in Texas and the rest of the family moved again. Yet, Dominic decided to stay in Arizona and now lives in Tucson.

在皮马人, she first chose a liberal arts degree pathway because she wasn’t sure which pathway to choose.

皮马有多种 护理程序 – from Nursing Assistant and Practical Nurse certificate programs to a Registered Nurse associate degree (ADN) program. It even has a concurrent enrollment (CE) program, allowing RN students to simultaneously earn their Associate of Applied Science and a Bachelor of Science Nursing (BSN) from one of several Arizona public, 私立和营利性大学. 

在她的第二学期, and with guidance from academic advisor April Horne, Dominic fine tuned her studies to the RN pathway. She is completing her prerequisites and will apply to the program this summer, in hopes of being one of the 80 students accepted for the fall semester.

"...being active in 学生生活 and on the (BSU) cabinet is great. It’s helped me make friends I wouldn’t have made otherwise." ~福琼·多米尼克

She is making the most of her Pima experience. She joined the new Black Student Union (BSU) club in the fall and, 在2月份, participated in Pima 学生生活 Black 历史 Month activities. 她的朋友 凯莱布·贝利创立了这个俱乐部 并邀请她加入. 现在，她是该公司的财务主管.

“I have always loved making friends and talking to new people,” Dominic said. “So being active in 学生生活 and on the (BSU) cabinet is great. It’s helped me make friends I wouldn’t have made otherwise.”

Dominic greatly appreciates the Black 历史 Month events Pima 学生生活 presented. “It helped me realize that there are a lot of people just like me,”她说。.

截至2022年秋季，5.3% of students self-identified as Black or African-American. Nearly half of Pima students identified as Hispanic/Latino, followed by 36.53%认为自己是白人.

West Campus 学生生活 Coordinator Danielle Chaney, who led planning of Black 历史 Month activities, hopes they give everyone more knowledge of Black history. “I want to connect students with resources and let them know that even though we are a minority, our culture is here and should be celebrated. 黑人的历史就是美国的历史!钱尼说.

Dominic looks forward to BSU’s future events, on and off-campus. “If I had known that being in a club would be this much fun, I would have been in one in high school!她笑着说.

Dominic may not stay in Arizona after she completes her Pima degree. The idea of attending college in Canada is appealing, just not Calgary – “I’ve already been there,”她说。.

“It was really hard moving (to Arizona) because I was young and I felt like I was leaving my whole life because I was leaving all of my friends,”她说。. “But over the years, I’ve seen that it was for the best.”