Personal Narrative: My Fall Career Fair

Beginning in my first real job out of college I was hired to work for the county social services department. This was an exciting opportunity for me as I had a great desire to work in government since I was young. In working my first week at my new job, I had an opportunity to meet with the Social Services Director. He was a very engaging, confident and passionate man that shared many of the same values that I had. He talked about the importance of all of the employees working together for the common cause of assisting those less fortunate in creating a better life for themselves. As I met others in the agency and began to talk about my first couple of weeks on the job they all had good things to say about the directors work, but had questions or reservations about his private life. My initial thought was does that

Nursing, and everything that it entails, cannot be easily described in just one simple word or phrase. It goes beyond the meaning of a profession and the stereotypical definition of treating the ill. Nursing is the “protection, promotion, and optimization of health and abilities, prevention of illness and injury, alleviation of suffering through the diagnosis and treatment of human response, and advocacy in the care of individuals, families, communities, and populations” (American Nurses Association, 2010, p. 1). Therefore, it is a career that requires dedication, passion, critical thinking, and knowledge. It demands commitment and an understanding of its core values and concepts, as well as the nurse’s own personal philosophy and principles.

For my Diverse Field Experience this semester, I spent fifteen hours at the Mclean County Juvenile Detention Center. This particular center was occupied by about 8-14 juveniles at a time, all depending on court dates and occupancy of other nearby detention centers. This center usually had 3 staff members working the shift every time I went, which was seven to nine on weekday afternoons. I was intrigued to go to at this time because I thought it would be the time of the day were the juveniles had no school work or other obligations to do while I was there. I wanted to see what they liked to do in the free time before bed, the only stipulation being mandatory snack time at eight pm. I have seen plenty of students in a classroom environment during my clinicals here at

was born in Dayton Ohio on March 14th in 2003. I have 1 older brother (Wesley VanZant) and he is 15. My favorite football teams are the Denver Broncos and the Ohio State Buckeyes. My whole family loves to play and watch sports. My brother gets crazy when his favorite teams are playing and make a touchdown. When I was in kindergarten I broke my arm in two spots. How I broke my was my brother and I were having a cartwheel contest. I decided to do a running round-off and I landed the wrong way. When I was little I danced but when I broke my arm I quit dance. I also quit soccer because I had to have bubble wrap around my arm so I didn’t hurt anyone. It sucked!!

When it comes to the work force, we have many choices of what we can do, but, it is up to us to figure out what we want to do for the rest of our lives. My career goal is to become an Adult Psychiatrist, I want to be an Adult Psychiatrist because I would like to help people who cannot help themselves. I believe I would be a good fit for this position because I feel I that I have quite a few of the characteristics necessary to help people who need it the most. I would work to get the patient back into the world and to be a fully-functioning member of society. I would likely work at a psychiatric hospital because the people there would need the help the most, due to either being forced to be there, or they are

I think I’ll start this essay with a question. An academic cliche sure, but by this point in my essay it’s at least not my first sentence. The question in question is about how I ended up at Evergreen, and the answer being that I'm not very sure myself. My best guess is that as a person, I am drawn to the different, which is a role that Evergreen certainly fits. In any case a more complete answer could probably be found in my academic past.

Healthcare was an unplanned career for me. I am not one of those people who knew that I was going into healthcare from an early age. I spent twelve years in and out of the foster care system and worked as a warehouse laborer. Did I even have the opportunity to consider my passion at all? I was asked, “Where are you going from here? What are your future goals?” I automatically replied, “I don’t know. I’m comfortable.” Which was immediately silenced by the response, “You don’t seem like the comfortable type.” This was the conversation that caused me to wake up and initiated my pursuit of progress.

My favorite season by far would be autumn, winter as a close second. Autumn has always been a season of peaceful business, beautiful colors, and the best flavor ever: pumpkin. With its dying plants that equal gorgeous drives and Halloween where we get free candy and can run around dressed as crazy people without anyone batting an eye. Lots of things happen in autumn, it’s a season of change. I have had a lot of changes throughout the years, one was quite recent actually, I passed my senior moves in the field with a bit of drama.

As a friendly and easygoing person who enjoys dealing with people, have good listening and interpersonal skills, I am able to assist people with the highest level of service. Additionally, by being empathetic and supportive to problems or requests, I am able to recommend an effective course of action, or assist in any way I can. My customer service is best demonstrated in my past role as a Personal Resource Manager for my cleaning business Blue Ribbon Resources, where my focus was to provide a quality service to my clients by providing customer care and addressing their needs and problems.

I decided to attend the Majors Fair event because I am a very open minded individual. It has been established that I want to be a psychologist, but this event confirmed it even more. It was great to speak to someone who went through a similar path as me in achieving their career goals. I was well informed and was given two pamphlets regarding my major. I attended the workshop with my friends. They are from completely different fields but were also well informed about their major. As they asked about their major, I kept an open ear and listened to everything that regarded their major. I learned a lot about the different paths I can take when I receive a psychology degree. I even got an estimated salary of what a person with a bachelor’s and

In the “Your Honors and Activities” section, I only listed the activities that I have participated in for more than 3 years. But, I choose to write my essay on the most important activity to me than I am currently been participating in for less than a year - my volunteer work at the Child Development Institute’s Early Learning Center.

Entering my first high school track and field season was so exciting--it was the start of my discus career where I could actually compete amongst other talented throwers in a span of many more meets. I felt confident since I had always been advanced in my years of throwing since I started at around the age of 9. Learning from an experienced and intelligent coach, I felt there was no way I could not succeed, but then a problem arose. The man who had been coaching me for almost five years could no longer work for the track and field team. I continued to work with him on my own when he was available, however, it appeared that other teammates were suffering due to the lack of guidance and critique. I decided that since I was one of the only athletes

As with all parents, my father wanted better for his children. Having never sought a post-secondary education himself, university attendance was encouraged for my brother and I. Growing up in a low-income family meant that in order to do so, I began working a combination of full and part-time from secondary school onward. Being unable to afford full-time tuition, I pursued my education part-time. As I was unable to afford a car, later combined with a novel epilepsy diagnosis, there was an opportunity cost in spending three hours per day on public transportation going to and from work and school. Registering for a full course load was not feasible without incurring large student loans.

It was 1993 when a supposedly routine joint patrol between the Kosovar and of the U.S. Army into Mount Ljuboten, a mountain peak that borders Kosovo and Macedonia, almost became a tragedy. I was then an electrician in the U.S. Army, but was assigned as the only combat medic personnel trained at the time, which was scary since I had just received training as a first responder about a week before the hike. The difficult trek lasted four to five hours with two casualties: one due to dehydration while another hurt their ankle secondary to a fall. As my first experience in providing medical care, I had to insert and infuse IV fluids, organized transport, and signaled a helicopter for evacuation. It was stressful, but this was a point in time, when I’ve realized that having the knowledge, skill, patience, personal courage can make a difference in a person’s life, which was not only self rewarding, but can also be a life-long goal towards a career in nursing.

I prepped a lot for my Mock interview by doing the notes in class, but also by going home and practicing. The notes that we had to take in class informed me with a lot of information that I did know, and also information I did not know. For an example, I did not know that you are not supposed to wear perfume. I always thought the better you smell the better impression you will make, but that is not true when it comes to an interview for a job. Another thing I did not know was that you should send the person that interviewed you a thank you letter. No one has ever told me that a thank you letter was needed, and technically you do not have to write one, but it is more likely you will get the job if you show appreciation towards your interviewer.