#MeetUsMonday - Meet BSN Transfer Student Mia
Meet BSN Student Mia.
Crocheter of plushies, spring roll maker, and a tennis and pickleball player who plays viola in the Charlottesville Symphony Orchestra. A former computer science major who transferred to nursing who loves the outdoors, reading, and hitting the gym. Dog-mom to two mini poodles, “Butter” and “Fluffy.” President of the AAPINSA student group and a member of the BSN class of 2027.
PATH TO NURSING
“I grew up in Fairfax but always knew I wanted to go to UVA. I originally planned to be a computer science major—I really loved coding, the classes I took, and found it to be a good outlet—but the winter of my first year at UVA, I had an epiphany: I realized I didn’t want to spend my whole life sitting at a desk, and not interacting with others. I suddenly had the desire to do something different. I’d established a lot of roots in computer science, got involved in clubs and with extracurriculars, but still felt a little bit empty. The more I grounded myself in CS, the more I realized my heart wasn’t in it.
“I’d done some healthcare shadowing over winter break at Reston Hospital. At first, I thought I might want to be a physician, but the more I saw how nurses were so directly involved—the ones communicating with patients, comforting them, leading them along, making sure the processes were smooth—I found that was what I was drawn to.
“I applied to the nursing school as a transfer student that first January I was at UVA . . . I took some of the prerequisites—lifespan development, anatomy and physiology, and microbiology—and really put all my eggs in one basket, a big risk for me, and not the kind of thing I usually do. But I really wanted it.”
“Even though it can seem scary to put yourself out there, or to consider switching paths or majors, it’s never too late to be a nurse. All you need is to want to care for others. That’s really all you need.”
NURSING SCHOOL SO FAR
“It’s an entirely new experience . . . I’m with the same people in every class, and everyone’s become more like family. And everyone’s supportive, and transfers don’t feel like outcasts: we’ve easily integrated, and the other nursing students and professors and staff have been really nice and inviting. I met [fellow nursing students] Cindy [Tran] and Alex [Holman], who were super-duper friendly, and they encouraged me to join AAPINSA [the Asian American Pacific Islander Nursing Student Association student group], which they started, and which has been a great place for me to find community.
“The course load was challenging at first, and the lab component is really hands on, but it’s been fun to simulate walking through patient experiences, practicing on mannequins. In health assessment, we learned all the different components from head to toe, shining pen lights, taking vital signs, listening to different sounds, feeling around and getting a real understanding of what it’s like to listen and assess a real patient. Then, second year, second semester, we provide care and are watched by our peers, which sounds scary, but you go in with a partner or small group and it’s more like a team, collaborative, and strengthening.
“Third year has been more challenging . . . clinicals increased from five hours a week to nine to 12 hours each week. I’m tired, but it’s been super-duper rewarding, and time really flies a lot faster than you’d think.
“Exploring different specialties has been really interesting. Right now, I’m on the OB labor and delivery floor, and I’ve gotten to see a lot of exciting things: not only pregnant women, but the entire process from before labor starts to witnessing a birth, to after the birth, caring for the mom and the baby. It’s been really special. It really is a whole new world. I find myself unconsciously smiling throughout the day just thinking about caring for these patients.
“Watching a Cesarean section was overwhelming . . . I felt a real whirlwind of emotions, but once the storm settled, seeing the mom’s pure sense of joy and emotion was amazing. What an honor and a privilege to be in a patient’s room during such a vulnerable, memorable point . . . and being able to share or help or listen or hold their hand—that’s the best part of the process as a student nurse.”
“Last year, I worked on a surgical step-down floor for gastrointestinal surgeries, and this semester, I’m on an acute cardiology floor. It’s been cool to see how nurses can specialize, and good to know the options, and increases my curiosity even more.”
ON GETTING INVOLVED
“Being AAPINSA president is a new experience for me . . . our group is really open and a willing to bounce ideas off of one another about how we want to lead and what to focus on. We’re few in number, but we have a lot to share and show others, in terms of our culture, and being able to provide a safe space, a community, and find friendship with one another is great. We have social events, picnics, study sessions, movie and game nights, culture-focused events. We did a spring roll fundraiser last year in McLeod, promoting our club and spreading awareness using food.
“Stopping, taking a few breaths, it sounds a little corny, because it’s something a lot of people say, but it helps remove you from your emotions, approach things objectively, and realize that how that patient is talking may not be representative of who they are. They’re under stress, too. I’ve learned to give people the benefit of doubt. Hospitals are . . . well, they’re our workplaces, but to other normal people visiting, they’re places of stress.”
“Now, we’re hoping to collaborate with more cultural groups beyond our own, and maybe even beyond the nursing school. We’re trying to reach out to younger classes of students as well, because many of them aren’t aware that there are cultural clubs. I’d been told that the nursing school had a lot of cliques, and was for white girls, but I’ve really learned not the case. We’ve got a strong sense of community here, and we want to help break those stereotypes down.”
ON BEING A CCI STUDENT AMBASSADOR
“First of all, the combination of being able to support nurses in different parts of the hospital and be around therapy dogs was appealing right off the bat! When our second-year class went to Morven Farm to practice different mindfulness skills, we sat in a circle in a yoga-style class and were able to just ground ourselves, de-stress, leave the whole world of academics and striving, and to really separate ourselves as a class. We learned how to stay calm, practiced different mindfulness strategies, did journaling, reflecting on what was around us.
“That experience led me to take the one-credit mindfulness elective course, which has been really interesting. I’ve taken those same practices we learned at Morven—deep breathing, meditation, journaling, and integrated them on a weekly basis. It’s helped me deal with times in the hospital that are stressful. . . sometimes, there are patients who don’t treat you with respect not just because of their condition but because you don’t fit that patient’s idea of what a nurse should be. It can be difficult to de-escalate in those situations, approach them with a level head. But mindfulness strategies help you pause for a second and not be reactive.
“I had an experience in which a patient questioned my abilities and demanded something that was outside my scope of practice, and I needed my instructor’s assistance. There was verbal disrespect, and questioning, and knowing how to stay calm in those situations and address people with respect is something this learning helped me do.
“My mindfulness professor taught me how to respond in a way that your future self would be proud of. Present emotions can take control, make you aggressive, or confrontational, especially when you feel like your pride and abilities are being questioned . . . so I have learned how to shut down those impulses and find a way to behave so my future self would be proud.
“Stopping, taking a few breaths, it sounds a little corny, because it’s something a lot of people say, but it helps remove you from your emotions, approach things objectively, and realize that how that patient is talking may not be representative of who they are. They’re under stress, too. I’ve learned to give people the benefit of doubt. Hospitals are . . . well, they’re our workplaces, but to other normal people visiting, they’re places of stress.”
THE SCHOOL IN A WORD?
“INSPIRING. Being able to hear other people’s stories—patients, other students, our professors—everyone here wears their hearts on their sleeves. Being able to see the passion that’s mutually shared in the nursing school makes me strive to be a better learner, nurse, and person.
“Even though it can seem scary to put yourself out there, or to consider switching paths or majors, it’s never too late to be a nurse. All you need is to want to care for others. That’s really all you need.”
###
Cultivate trust and equity in all that we do within our learning, research, and clinical environments
People are our foundation. Having a connected, engaged, high-performing, and diverse community facilitates the realization of the School’s mission, vision, and goals as we harness our community’s collective knowledge, skills, and abilities and optimize how we learn, grow, connect and engage across difference. A School community fully committed and accountable to our values enables individuals, groups, and the organization to do their best work in the ambitious pursuit to transform healthcare, augment health outcomes, and improve health equity.