I chose my career in Nursing after having to look after my father during my grade school years. He had a stroke which was then followed by a heart attack, and the only people who were able to look after him were my mother and me. My dad's state was very crucial and he had to be watched 24/7 after he was released from the hospital. Since my mother worked during the night, she was able to look after him in the daytime. This left me with looking after him at night. I did have to sacrifice some of my own sleep and other needs of my own to the side, however thankfully it did not have a great effect on my academics at the time. It was through that experience I realized that caregiving is something I tremendously enjoy and that is what led me into choosing Nursing as my career path. I honestly believe if it was not for that time in my life I would not have chosen to do nursing. Though it was a very stressful and upsetting period in my life mainly because I had to watch my father suffer, I'm happy about how it molded me today. To get an idea of nursing, I then went ahead and volunteered at a local nursing home, and seeing how happy the residents were when someone decided to go the extra mile for them and offer exceptional care put a smile on my heart. This is what further persuaded me to choose to do nursing and solidify the decision. I have two areas of nursing that I will like to pursue. I would like to become a pediatric nurse and also a humanitarian aid nurse. My reason for pursuing pediatrics is because the needs of children and teenagers are extremely critical. It ranges from physical to mental. With the physical aspect, if there is a disease, syndrome, condition, etc that a person has in either infancy or as an adolescent and is addressed immediately, it may be easier to treat as opposed to if a person had it addressed as an adult and depending on what it is, it may be much harder to treat which can, later on, have a negative impact on their quality of life. I believe putting a heavy emphasis on a child's health as early as possible can potentially reduce any situations they would have faced later on in life. Now with the mental aspect, I want to be a nurse that not only addresses what's going on visibly, but also what is not. Though mental health is not the sole focus of nurses I would like to be the one nurse who always goes the extra mile and has meaningful and heartfelt conversations with my patients. I would not only want them to see me as a caregiver but also as a friend who only wants the best for them. Someone who they can be completely transparent with. After some time in Pediatrics, I plan to be involved in opportunities for volunteering in humanitarian relief as a nurse. After reading countless articles about the lack of proper healthcare in 3rd world countries, especially in African countries, I decided to be the one to help change that as much as I possibly can as an individual. I mainly plan to help countries that harbor a severe deficiency of health care workers (like Malawi, Liberia, and Central African Republic), and also in countries that are considered unsafe (like Somalia, South Sudan, and Yemen) since countries like such tend to be, unfortunately, greatly ignored.

As expected for many foreigners, entering a new country is not an easy process. There are new things you have to adapt to. A new way of life that you have to follow. The saying "do as the Romans do" is something that my father knows all too well now. After having migrated to Miami back in the 1990s from Katsina, Nigeria, one of the biggest challenges my father states he had to face was trying to retain his identity in a city where non-white people were a severe minority. At the time, the only minorities who were en masse were mainly Cubans, Haitians, and Bahamians. They all had their own shops and communities and mainly stayed in cliques; being quite reluctant to interact with outsiders and did not feel a need to change anything about themselves since they were in packs. Although there were some cultural similarities between him as a Nigerian with the Caribbeans, especially with the Haitians, there was nothing better than having a group of people to associate with who shared your cultural background and you clicked on from there with them. Due to this his first few years were spent in isolation. Calling back home would bring him temporary gratification; not just from hearing his family's voice again but also from being able to fully communicate in his language which reminded him of his culture; only to be slammed back to his unfortunate reality as soon as the call ended. However, my father did not let his current circumstances stunt him from going along with what he left Nigeria for. He persuaded his RN license first by going to a community college and then completing the rest at a four year college. He recalls going through teasing from outsiders who would mock him for his thick accent. Having to repeat the same sentence severally to professors because they didn't understand him the first time followed with snickers from his peers. Sadly, this led him to be ashamed of who he was and only desired to "fit in" with the American crowd. He grew out his hair long down to his back and tried to conceal his accent as much as possible with hopes of being confused as a black person who was born and raised in America. It was so drastic that when he would call his family back home, they called out that they noticed a change accent in his accent and were not even sure if it was really him on the line. Sadly it worked. He became more lax and did not feel as if a constant target was on his back due to his heritage. It took my father meeting my mother, an Antiguan woman, who he discussed his insecurities with and she encouraged him to just be himself. She even learned and conformed to his culture if it meant helping him to be comfortable. It is through my fathers story I learned to be proud of my culture, try to retain it as much as possible and to be unapologetically myself even if I stand out and would appear as "odd" to outsiders. Though in today's society people are much more accepting of immigrants now, a lot more could be done with the feelings migrants have when they move to countries with an opposing culture as theirs and feel forced to assimilate. This is why I spend extra time learning about my Nigerian culture and history and express it though my appearance and teach others about it wherever I go.

Education is absolutely essential to me because it is unfortunately a privilege. In general not everyone has access to a proper education; especially one that is affordable. Now to add insult to injury, depending on your demographic you can be greatly impacted by whether or not you will even be accepted to peruse a higher education. Unfortunately in some parts of the world, women are discouraged from getting an education and are told their only purpose is to take care of their husbands and child(ren) in the home and are highly shunned if they even show an iota of interest in getting an education. They receive an earful on how it is a waste of time, no man will want to marry a woman with a degree, and she would probably feel as if she is "higher than men" and disobey them. In my younger years, I never could fully comprehend why women from my culture were outcasted if they refused to be bonded to a home for the rest of their life and enrolled in educational institutions. It was so bad that some people would even use my religion as a means to guilt-trip women for wanting to be in college, going as far as to claim that they will risk eternal damnation knowing fully that religion is highly exalted in my culture especially amongst the women. Sadly, some women would actually fall for these antics, and once again that oppressive mindset is recycled from generation to generation in the name of culture. Well, as a young African-Caribbean woman, I can say that I'm proud of myself for defying all odds and chasing what I knew was best for myself. I understand that if I just so happened to have been born in different circumstances, I would not even be typing this essay right now, which is why I put so much emphasis on an education. I plan to be used as a means of motivation for other young women especially ones who share similar demographics as me to reject the naysayers and invest in themselves wholly, whenever possible. My education will not only be a symbol of my accomplishments, but also as a symbol for the women who have tried their absolute best to peruse an education and are still fighting until this very day to do so. In countries like India, Muslim women trying to enroll in certain universities are being denied admission simply because they wear a hijab. In my country Nigeria, women from my region are severely beaten by their husbands if they refuse to do anything outside of house duties. In South Sudan, nearly 80% of girls do not even enter primary school. Unfortunately, this does not begin to even scratch the surface of the injustices thrown in their faces. This is the price women pay in 3rd world countries most would not be able to fathom, just because these humans have two X chromosomes. To the women who have the access and fire in them to pursue an education, and even to the ones who have extinguished it, I desire to be their fuel in never giving up no matter the obstacles in their path. My education is important because (hopefully just for now), it is only accessible to an advantaged population and is something I will use to its fullest extent.

I chose my career in Nursing after having to look after my father during my grade school years. He had a stroke which was then followed by a heart attack, and the only people who were able to look after him were my mother and me. My dad's state was very crucial and he had to be watched 24/7 after he was released from the hospital. Since my mother worked during the night, she was able to look after him in the daytime. This left me with looking after him at night. I did have to sacrifice some of my own sleep and other needs of my own to the side, however thankfully it did not have a great effect on my academics at the time. It was through that experience I realized that caregiving is something I tremendously enjoy and that is what led me into choosing Nursing as my career path. I honestly believe if it was not for that time in my life I would not have chosen to do nursing. Though it was a very stressful and upsetting period in my life mainly because I had to watch my father suffer, I'm happy about how it molded me today. To get an idea of nursing, I then went ahead and volunteered at a local nursing home, and seeing how happy the residents were when someone decided to go the extra mile for them and offer exceptional care put a smile on my heart. This is what further persuaded me to choose to do nursing and solidify the decision. I have two areas of nursing that I will like to pursue. I would like to become a pediatric nurse and also a humanitarian aid nurse. My reason for pursuing pediatrics is because the needs of children and teenagers are extremely critical. It ranges from physical to mental. With the physical aspect, if there is a disease, syndrome, condition, etc that a person has in either infancy or as an adolescent and is addressed immediately, it may be easier to treat as opposed to if a person had it addressed as an adult and depending on what it is, it may be much harder to treat which can, later on, have a negative impact on their quality of life. I believe putting a heavy emphasis on a child's health as early as possible can potentially reduce any situations they would have faced later on in life. Now with the mental aspect, I want to be a nurse that not only addresses what's going on visibly, but also what is not. Though mental health is not the sole focus of nurses I would like to be the one nurse who always goes the extra mile and has meaningful and heartfelt conversations with my patients. I would not only want them to see me as a caregiver but also as a friend who only wants the best for them. Someone who they can be completely transparent with. After some time in Pediatrics, I plan to be involved in opportunities for volunteering in humanitarian relief as a nurse. After reading countless articles about the lack of proper healthcare in 3rd world countries, especially in African countries, I decided to be the one to help change that as much as I possibly can as an individual. I mainly plan to help countries that harbor a severe deficiency of health care workers (like Malawi, Liberia, and Central African Republic), and also in countries that are considered unsafe (like Somalia, South Sudan, and Yemen) since countries like such tend to be, unfortunately, greatly ignored.