Madisen is an aspiring nurse, but currently a high school senior. She’s recently heard from the University of North Las Vegas for acceptance and waiting for other applications to come back. She’s hoping to attain a nursing degree and pursue a minor in kinesiology. Her inspiration for a nursing career hails from her love of science and the many people that helped foster that inspiration. Did you know she’s a game developer as well? Here’s a little more about Madisen and her journey to where she is now.
Having the opportunity to go to a STEM camp ran by nurses starting in the 9th grade, Madisen’s interest grew! Since then, Madisen has been involved in dual college enrollment courses for over two years on top of her regular high school course load. Compared to her previous three years of high school, she says senior year is, “One of the worst years yet.” Because of the much larger workload she has chosen to take on this year, she says it’s very stressful. But she’s managing it all seemingly well, “I have certain goals for myself that I want to make sure I achieve. But I also want to ensure I’m getting enough experience in that I’m comfortable and proud of.” Sounds like Madisen is setting herself up for success by doing the most challenging part now, getting out of her comfort zone.
She attributed her excitement to wanting a nursing degree to her internship at FirstMed. “First of all, wow, wow, wow,” was Madisen’s response when I asked her how she enjoyed shadowing Nurse Grady. Stoked was an understatement. “I hope to be as great of a nurse as her someday…”, said Madisen. “She gave me real insight on what it would be like if I actually got into that field of work.” While shadowing, Madisen had the opportunity to look at clinical software used daily, in depth and a chance to observe real life patient-provider interactions.
Excitement for her transition also welcomes the nervousness of change about to envelop her. Madisen says she is excited to delve deeper into science and just the upcoming events that will be the college learning experience. “Big changes like that can be scary and I don’t like super huge changes… But I have a positive outlook on it,” she says. But, on the other side of her excitement is her sadness of leaving her family behind if she’s accepted to UC Irvine. UC Irvine is Madisen’s dream school, and her number one pick now for a few reasons. 1. Her entire extended family resides in California, 2. They have a sports medication program she’d love to immerse herself into, and 3. California is just “her place”. Though mom and dad are never too far away, she’s looking forward to hearing from UC Irvine very soon.
We wish Madisen so well on her journey and hope to hear wonderful stories of success in the near future. Here’s to you Madisen, knowledge truly is power!
If you’d like to see Madisen’s video interview, go visit our Instagram and Facebook pages: @ Firstmedhealthnv