#MeetUsMonday - Meet CNL Student Sabrina
Meet Sabrina.
Oldest daughter of five siblings. Marathon runner. Born in Los Angeles, raised in Virginia, and a recent Richmondite. Dog mom to Labradoodle “Suki” who loves babies, painting watercolor pet portraits, and creating comic books with her 12-year-old brother. Future NICU nurse and a second-year Clinical Nurse Leader master’s student who recently returned from a community health clinical rotation in Roatan, Honduras.
HER PATH TO NURSING
“I actually entered as a pre-med major at University of Richmond, and ultimately became a biology major, but found that the more I started working in healthcare settings as an undergrad, the more I cared about what the nurses were doing. I like being in the thick of things, and that’s where they were.
"EMPOWERING. This program does more than show us what's out there; it also helps us learn what we need to get there. It propels you to change for the better in the field that you’re interested in, and, at the same time, helps you spread roots into areas you didn’t know existed."
“I saved my money and earned my CNA certification during college when I was 19 because I knew it was the fastest way to get close. I volunteered at Crossover Clinic in Richmond, which I loved, and worked in long-term care and on a medical-surgical unit as well and was the first student to ever work at U of R’s student health clinic.”
WHY SHE CHOSE THE CNL
“My school didn’t offer nursing, but I had a full ride, and knew I wanted to go into an accelerated nursing program after I graduated from U of R. I picked UVA because it was the most affordable and was central to where my family was. I’d met a few people who’d done the CNL program at UVA, too, and was impressed.
“I’m a Conway Scholar, too, so the program is completely paid for, and I have money left over for living expenses. I’ve been able to keep my part-time job with the working for the Virginia Neonatal Perinatal Collaborative (VNPC) as well during grad school which has been a great way to stay connected to the research side of nursing.”
WHAT THE CNL HAS BEEN LIKE
“It feels like a total immersion into healthcare. I’ve seen all the corners I felt like I’d been missing out on as a CNA, and the cohort aspect has been really special . . . We’ve become so close, and I can talk to anyone, we study together, I am the Quizlet maker for our cohort, it just feels like such a community. We have fallen into this together, but we’re coming out of it as lifelong friends. I will always know these people.”
THE SCHOOL IN A WORD?
“EMPOWERING. This program does more than show us what's out there; it also helps us learn what we need to get there. It propels you to change for the better in the field that you’re interested in, and, at the same time, helps you spread roots into areas you didn’t know existed.
“This program opens doors you didn’t know about until you’re here. We’re all coming from a previous career or educational pursuit that wasn’t nursing . . . and you might think that attending the CNL program is the final choice you have to make . . . but there’s actually a lot more than you get to learn and decide, things you don’t even know about yet. Once you open the door, there are 100 more doors you’re going to have to go through. There really are so many possibilities."
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