Registered nursing student and full-time mom
“I first went to El Centro in 1997 and just took classes on and off for a long time. I was always interested in nursing, but didn’t think I could do it — I didn’t have very good grades in high school. But both of my in-laws are family practitioners, and my mother-in-law really encouraged me to try to get into El Centro’s nursing program.
“I was accepted into the Vocational Nursing program, which was like a miracle to me. When I applied, it seemed so unattainable to even get into the program. That first semester, I had an excellent teacher, Steve Kirk, for my anatomy and physiology classes, and after I got As in both classes, I was even more encouraged to keep going.
“All of the instructors were so encouraging and understanding and would do whatever they could to help you succeed in the real world. They really went to bat for the vocational nurses.
“The program just totally prepared me to be able to work as a licensed vocational nurse (LVN). In fact, the instructors really overprepared us. For instance, they taught us how to do care plans, which LVNs don’t even do. But we were prepared to exceed what LVNs normally do, and that’s made it even easier to begin working on my registered nurse (RN) certification because I’m so far ahead of the game.
“It’s an understatement to say the teachers went the extra mile for us students. Even something as little as letting me and a friend work together in our clinicals showed us that they really cared.
“The most important thing I learned in the program was time management. It’s such an important part of nursing to deal effectively with multiple patients, but in the beginning it’s so overwhelming.”
Michelle delaPaz earned a Vocational Nursing certificate at El Centro College and worked as an LVN in an obstetrics and gynecology clinic before taking time off to have her daughter. She is currently a stay-at-home mom working toward her RN certification online through Excelsior College in New York and plans to return to nursing when her daughter is a little older.