I was a bit nervous today because it was our day to finally present our Cradle to Grave projects. We had a short amount of work time in the morning to get our final touches done, and I am so glad that we did. Overall, I think everything turned out well.
Career Lecture: Nursing
This was definitely the lecture I had been waiting for. While the speaker was from a cardiovascular specialty, she spoke a lot about the process and options of nursing. I found it interesting that, as a nurse, you can truly float through specialties or units. She said that if something is not your calling or if you grow tired of it, you can move to a different unit. Going into the medical field, I have often been hesitant to make a decision on what field or interest I want to go into because I am afraid that I will commit to something I won't love or have a complete passion for. I am interested in working in the pediatric ICU; however, I have been afraid to say that because I have this voice in the back of my mind saying, "what if you don't fit there?" or "what if you don't like it over time?", but the speaker reassured me that I would be okay, even if ICU wasn't meant for me, there would be some specialty somewhere and I might just have to look for it.
There was a second speaker there as well who was going into her senior year of nursing school. She spoke about the MedEx Tier IV Externship, as she had just graduated from it. It sounds like a truly amazing program with a lot of career prep. Going into nursing, I have also worried that I won't be prepared for what the job entails, or that I am not even aware of what the job entails. She spoke of the experiences she got not only in MedEx but also in nursing school. She was offered many different opportunities to explore different specialties and it helped her decide.
The speakers definitely put my mind at ease about wanting to go into nursing and reassured me that it was the path for me. Right now I just need to focus on getting into nursing school, and throughout my nursing school journey, I will learn more about myself and my strengths throughout nursing school. I don't need to pick my whole life out right now.
Cradle To Grave
In the afternoon, we had our Cradle to Grave presentation fair. MedEx Tier III came in to see our projects and so did our parents. I had fun breaking down everything I wanted to say and trying to figure out how to make a very grim topic more entertaining and engaging. I ended up having volunteers pull "tabs" off of the board with the facts that I wanted to highlight. People seemed to really enjoy our entire group's project and I couldn't have asked for a better result. My mother came to see our project and said that she was really impressed. My topic was on causes of death in adolescents ages 13-19. The number one cause of death is car crashes. Some of the facts that I learned truly made me look closely at the way I drive and I tried to present them in a way that might make others in the tier consider them in a new light. I feel as though people hear the statistics all of the time, but no one truly puts them into perspective. One of the most concerning facts I found about car crashes was that 1 in 100 teenagers will be in a fatal car crash (either as a driver or passenger). When putting that into perspective of people in a high school, I realized just how much of an issue it is. There are certain areas that are more prevalent to extreme crashes, but teens should always be careful when driving no matter what. Unfortunately, some of the main causes of crashes are distracted driving and over-confident drivers. When I think of my own driving, when I drive in familiar places or on roads I drive every day, I tend to become a little more relaxed behind the wheel. I get lost in the road and by the time I reach my destination, I barely remember the drive there. This is a habit that I need to break because, during one of those rides, I may not be as conscious of the traffic around me. To be honest, some of the things I learned from the project scared me quite a bit and made me reconsider some of the habits that I have.
Quote of the Day
"One choice can transform you. One choice can destroy you. One choice will define you." Veronica Roth, Divergent
Final thoughts
All in all, today was a good day. My mother got to meet the people I talk about all of the time, and I got to include her in my MedEx experience. During presentations, I realized that I am very good at public speaking and am able to push back nerves and control the room. Tonight, I will focus on college essays and getting through to the next steps. As MedEx comes to a close, it has become more realistic that my future starts now. Each application I fill out, each essay I write, and each step I take, is a step towards the unknown future I find coming more quickly than I could have ever imagined. I can't wait for day eighteen. I give day seventeen 4 out of 5 stars.
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