On August 7, I was born. Brown haired girl with big blue eyes. My name is Nicole D. I am 16 years old and 5 feet and 2 inches tall. Now you’re probably asking yourself “Why is she telling us how tall she is?’ Well I am a junior in high school and I am short. I have a ton ambition and energy with being a nurse. One of my many goals in life is to study hard and become a nurse.

Now you’re probably asking “How did the Idea of having a career in the nursing field come up?” The idea came up on an average day. A drive to visit family. I was in the car on my way to visit grandma Sophia and Grandpa Paul. On the way there, my mom randomly asked me randomly, “Nicole, what do you want to do when you grow up?” Being young at the time, I didn’t really know what I wanted to do. I was in middle school. When you’re in middle school and just being young, you never really know what you want to do. Personally, I just wanted to go to the park and spend time with friends. My mom gave me the suggestion of becoming a nurse. It was just a suggestion but the idea really stuck with me. When you’re little, you never really notice how fast time is. Changing perspectives from Elementary school to high school is extremely different. Being in high school, you’re taught that no one is going to baby you. You’re independent in high school and that's how life began from there..
In high school, everyone pressures you to know what you want to do once you leave high school. I always ask myself “Nicole, what is your goal in life?” I always tell myself that it’s nursing.  There are a lot of days in the school year but I am very committed to going to school unless I am really sick. The school I attend has a program called Health Care Careers. This program is designed to educate the students in the classroom and inside the hospital. Health Care Careers allows students to be very independent once they walk into the hospital. The feelings I felt towards that class was mixed emotions. I was very happy to be able to be in a class that captures everything that I want in my future. I was very stressed out because the class took so much of your time up. There were projects and extra side homework added onto the class. Looking back to first semester, Healthcare Careers was my favorite class. It pushed me to explore the nursing field and to experience new things such as walking around the hospital floors.

In the beginning of the year, I went with my Health Care Careers class to the Lutheran General, Hospital in Park Ridge. It was just an average day. I was given the respiratory floor for the day. I was given a nurse to follow around and ask her some questions. I was allowed into the patient's room with the nurse of course. I was observing everything that the nurse was executing. It was all so new and seemed interesting. I realized that the patient barely spoke any english. The patient was only fluent in Polish. I am fully polish. My mother and father were born in poland also with my older brother Patrick so speaking Polish is not a problem. The patient was fully polish and the nurse was asking the Patient questions such as “How are you feeling today?”,” When is your birthday?” The patient really didn’t know what the nurse was asking so I stepped in and helped out. The patient smiled and seemed so comfortable to see a friendly face that spoke polish. When the nurse turned her back from the patient for a few seconds to fill out the patients information,  I noticed that the patient wasn’t looking the same. When I say that, I mean as if something was wrong. I turned to ask the nurse if the patient was okay. Right when I turn to ask, the patient started to seize. All the sensors attached to the patient and attached to the bed went off. The nurse turned around grabbed the patient  just trying to hold her down and screamed “Back up!” “We need back up!” It was such an unreal experience. You might be asking, “Nicole, How did you not freak out?” Well, normally a person would freak but I don’t think I was ready to witness something like that.  I don’t know how I stayed calm. Till this day, I still think wonder about the patient.

In October of 2017,  my Health Care Careers class was learning about CPR. CPR wasn’t the easiest to learn. A certified American Heart Association and also a firefighter that works for the Park Ridge Fire station, Came in for a weeks to give a CPR class. Let me tell you, It was not easy. It shouldn’t be easy. I was sweating while doing CPR on a dummy. After weeks of having this class, I finally got certified on October 26, 2017. I never really thought I would actually use CPR to save someone's life until December 23, 2017.

It was Christmas Eve Eve, I was spending the day with my friends Klaudia and Brad while we were waiting for Brad’s friend Dylan to finish Christmas shopping for his family. Klaudia, Brad, and I were making sandwiches while we waited. All three of us were just having a good time and just laughing until something suddenly happen. Klaudia was mid way through chewing and swallowing her bite when Brad made a funny joke. Brad and I were laughing but Klaudia was not. When I turned my back to look at something, I thought Klaudia was laughing. Klaudia was not laughing, instead she was choking on her sandwich. Klaudia was gasping for air and was pointing to her mouth that she can’t breath My first instincts were to help her breath.  I used the Heimlich maneuver. The  Heimlich maneuver is CPR but reverse. It is when you get behind the person choking and thrust quick into the abdomen. These fast movements can help clear the airway. I did the Heimlich maneuver and I helped my friend breath again. Everything she was choking on just flew out of her mouth. Klaudia was so spooked. I never really realized I jumped in to help until it was all over. It was the adrenaline rush that made me act without thinking. My friend Klaudia was so thankful. Till this day, I don’t really know how I got through this unreal situation.