Nursing Scholarship Awarded

Congratulations to Maia Acevedo, a recipient of the spring 2007 chooseNursing.com scholarship award

Maia Acevedo’s nursing path began five months after giving birth to her daughter. She wanted her daughter to have a good life, so she got a job at Stanford University Hospital as an Operating Room technician. The job was like an orderly she says in that she transported patients to surgery, set up all the surgery rooms by bringing in equipment, sterilizing the room, and mopping floors. She even got to see some of the surgeries. “What an experience that was,” she says.

She liked working in a hospital setting and decided to research other departments. Acevedo felt she was doing well until one of the nurses showed Acevedo her paycheck. She was shocked! Five years later she was in school and taking nursing prerequisites while working at an ophthalmologist's office.

Acevedo completed her prerequisites by attending all four campuses of the Peralta College District and at the end of three years she had earned an AA and AS degree.

She completed her Liberal Arts/Humanities requirements at St. Mary’s College and at the same time began her nursing program at Samuel Merritt College. She will graduate with a BSN in December 2007.

The nursing program proved to be quite demanding and Acevedo had to quit working. It meant living on government assistance, taking out student loans, and applying for and receiving grants and scholarships. Clearly she never lost focus. “I’ll be able to care for my daughter exactly the way I want,” she says.

Acevedo’s short term goal is to work in Pediatrics. She also enjoys working with geriatric patients. “I love talking with them and hearing their stories,” she says.

Her long term goal is to go to Central America and administer nursing. After visiting Nicaragua this past winter with her father and learning how poor the country is she says, “I feel an obligation to help the less fortunate. The country is in ruins and people are living in poverty on dirt floors. It’s important to give back.”

She plans on using her scholarship award to help her get through her last semester.

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