Student Blogs

by Darian Arias

For those of you who do not know me, my name is Darian Heaven. I was born and raised in Phoenix, Arizona, and I am proud that I recently graduated nursing school with my RN-BSN. For this blog, I wanted to take this opportunity to share why I choose to become a nurse. Most individuals working in the healthcare field have one “life-changing” moment or experience that motivated them to pursue a career in the medical field. For me, however, it was quite the opposite.

Initially, when I first went to college, I did not know what to major in and was labeled as “undecided”. During my freshman orientation, I heard many students say that they were going to school for nursing and wanted to become an RN. It just so happens that I ended up changing my major to “pre-nursing” because I thought it was an easy major to pursue, given that many students choose this. I ended up taking my first pre-science class. Instantly, I knew that if nursing was going to be a book-based approach to learning, I wasn't going to succeed in it. I eventually changed my major to public health because I felt like I wasn’t “smart enough” to push through nursing. As the weeks went on, I knew deep down inside that I wanted to become a nurse, so I changed my major back to nursing again. This pattern continued over and over until I finally had to ask God about what major I should choose. I asked the Lord to send me a sign of what I needed to do with my life. Later that week, He gave me three distinct signs that nursing was my calling, and I needed to go forth with it. After I received these signs, I knew that I needed to become a nurse. I knew that nursing school was going to be challenging. But no matter how hard the program was, I remained hopeful and believed that God would get me through it.

It was exactly one year after I changed my major back to nursing that I had the opportunity to travel to Ghana, Africa, for a medical brigade. My trip to Africa taught me many things, not only in the medical field but also in my personal life. It was during this trip that I received confirmation that I needed to become a nurse. 

Now, I want to dedicate my life to helping others, and nursing is the perfect career to do my calling. In this world, I believe that we are all destined to do something great in this world. I want to encourage all of you to always believe in yourself, no matter how difficult life may get.  If there is one thing that I have learned from nursing school, that is: No matter how big your goal is or how much work it takes to get there, always remain focused because anything is possible if you set your mind to it.