Thursday, August 13, 2015

Just an Associates.

With summer coming to a close, and school time drawing near, this age old question is increasingly popping up:

"How's school?"

This is the way the conversation usually begins. The one that fills small talk time and time again.
The one to which I reply how well it's going, though ever busy; between class, track, and work, life can become rather overwhelming at times.
"I'm graduating this coming May." I tell them.
To which they reply "Really? Wow, that's crazy!"
"Well, I'm only going for an associates degree."I explain.
After a quick "Oh."and awkward pause comes about.
They then fill the silence with "Well why don't you just go into nursing?"
This is said in a confused accusatory tone of voice.

At this, I am always taken aback. Because the implication the question brings is that it is unreasonable for me to be graduating without a bachelors degree. After all, that is the goal for every college student, no?

As a result, I generally stutter in my answer. You would think that considering I am asked this question so frequently, I would be able to go on auto play as to my response. But I don't.
Honestly, I am not very eloquent when I speak. My words always seem to barf out of me in a jumbled mess that goes something like
"the nursing program at Davenport is super competitive" and "apart from my core classes there is very few that would transfer to that major meaning in essence I would have to start over, which makes no sense considering I'm so far along in my current major" and "I really don't want to add another three years of debt to what I already have"
These responses generally satisfy the listener, though i'm often still given such a skeptical look.
And there is often so much more I want to explain to them, but I don't know how to say.
What I have to say makes perfect sense in my head, but I never know how to transfer it through my mouth to the listener's ears (thus I wish I could just perform a Vulcan mind meld and have them understand perfectly). I am far better at writing words than I am speaking them. So here's a more in depth answer to the question at hand, why an associates? Why not a bachelors?

Simply put, I don't feel right now that a bachelors degree is where God is now calling me. I'm by no means saying that I am closed off to a change in that plan, but as of right now, I don't feel that to be the path for my life.
When I am in the working field, I want to work with babies. NICU or the postpartum ward would be ideal, but I am open to whatever gets me in the door to do so. Likewise, I am open to other similar fields to that of a medical assistant (such as nurse tech) to be able to work in such an area. All my life i've had a passion for babies, which only grew as I got older.
When I was twelve a close family friend had a baby who was born with an unknown condition which made her very lethargic. To survive she needed a trachea and g-tube installed. To this day, the little girl, now eight years old, lives. I don't know all of the details, but that's not the point. I'm just using this as an example of when my interest in working in the field of babies began. It was at this time I began reading endless blogs of handicapped babies, NICU babies, birth stories... My research was endless. I just found it all so fascinating. By senior year, I knew that was where I would like to work.
At the time though, I thought the only way I could do that was by going in to nursing, and so my plan at the time was to go to GVSU to do so. And for a moment, that was my plan. I soon found out how competitive the field was, which sort of slammed a door shut on that idea. Bringing about a few months of uncertainty. My plan was still to go to GVSU, but for what, I had no idea.
In the coming months, and through the help of my mom, I found out that there are other positions in which one can work in such field. Enter: Medical Assisting.
This major also sounded more appealing to me because it was half of the schooling, thus half the debt (a major worry I has upon graduating high school).
This is where Davenport came in to play. My mom helped me set up a campus visit and go through the application process, and within three weeks, I was in. My new path ahead of me. Little did I know what would come from this change of schools; that I would run and become better than I had even imagined!
Back to my major, practically speaking, as I come to learn about the job of a medical assistant, I am coming to find that the job description is far more appealing to me. Nurses now days do a lot more of the communication from Dr. to Patient. It is the medical assistants and nurse tech who do a lot more of the caring (empathy and emotional support) for patients and hands on work (hands on being vitals and whatnot). This is what I want. I want to work with people. Sure, nurses make a boat load of money in comparison to medical assistants, but I'm okay with that. I'm not in it for a career to become rich. I'm choosing this because I feel it's where God is calling me.
Furthermore, I feel confident that a bachelors doesn't have to be the path for my life, my degree is not my identity. I rest in this, knowing my identity is in Christ, and that it is God who holds my future. I firmly believe that if He wants me to continue my education, he will open doors and make that clear. But as of right now, August 2015, I don't feel that to be where he's leading me.

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