My biggest contribution that I have made to my community. by Breanna

My biggest contribution that I have made to my community. by Breanna - January 2024 Scholarship Essay

For me, community means to be surrounded by others with the same values, passions, experiences or roles where you are accepted. I felt a sense of community my first year of high school in 2020. For my class of 2024, we began with the shared experience of the Covid-19 national pandemic. Each student of 2024 that attended the Battle Ground School District in the years 2019-2021 had learned to transfer to an “at-home learning environment” due to school closures. Starting from the closure in March of 2020 students in the Battle Ground school district experienced stress, depression, self-isolation and social or emotional behavior difficulties. When students returned back to “in-person school” in September of 2021 many students felt a sense of academic decline in overall classes after years of loss of discipline or engagement in classes occurring over a computer. Over the transition from September to June, I grew connections with my second period class Introduction to Health Sciences bonding over the shared passion of becoming a healthcare professional after months of struggling to learn of health sciences independently.
The class of Introduction to Health Science Careers taught about dental, medical and veterinary careers over the months and aimed me in the right direction of a healthcare career. I experienced blood drives ran through the American Red Cross held in my high school gym, practiced basic vitals such as blood pressure and pulse, dissected a cow's eyeball, and found my calling to become a nurse. The instructor was Tracee Godfrey, who I will forever be grateful to for having a lifelong impact on my life. Without her guidance, I wouldn't have had the opportunity to take the next steps in my healthcare career- taking the classes Advanced Health Science Careers, Advanced Medical Terminology or enrolled in the Applied Medical Sciences with another campus program. These classes and her mentoring taught me how I was meant to have a career with community values and passion to save people’s lives. The classmates I’ve met along the way and how they protected, supported and encouraged me taught me how I would want to treat other people in my community.
As I started my Applied Medical Sciences class with Cascadia Technical Academy, I met 25 students from different schools in my county. We grew strong bonds with each other and supported each other throughout the year. In this time, I began to encourage other students as much as I was encouraged by them. During this time, we were “ranked” in the class and I stayed consistently within the top 5 academically. I had Tracee Godfrey to thank for this because she had prepared me with the exact textbooks we used for the class, knowing I was wanting to join the next year. People at the head of the class were expected to support the other students and build them up as well, which I was happy to do. I spent time in and out of school creating studying sets, flashcards, practice tests, helping with classwork and helping in our lab. The lab consisted of 9 hospital set ups, and we were expected to learn the skills of a Certified Nursing Assistant. I caught on to the skills easily and was able to contribute my time and information to the other nursing students. The UMC Health System stated in their webpage in 2024 that “through continual training and education, nurses achieve better patient outcomes and reduce harm.” As the students are uplifting each other, we are all benefiting each other, growing friendships and trust knowing we all want to graduate and become the best nurse we can be. I am grateful to the teachers that have taught me these skills, and I will contribute that education to the future nurses in my community.