Abstract: Megan Migallos Magpusao was born and raised in Hayward, California. Inspired by her parents’ hardships and what they sacrificed in order to give her two older siblings and her a better life, Megan worked very hard in school to succeed.
The GATE program in elementary school provided her with many opportunities on its accelerated learning track all the way through high school. Although her high school, Mount Eden, was on the brink of being taken over by California for having such very low test scores, the faculty never discouraged their students from going to college.
Megan’s mother is a registered nurse, educated in the Philippines, and her sister, Maureen, educated through Saint Mary’s became a registered nurse. Megan is a first-generation college student because according to Saint Mary’s definition her parents did not attend college in the United States. Megan wanted to become a nurse through a nursing program like Saint Mary’s just as her sister had gone through. Megan loved the idea that Saint Mary’s nursing program had its curriculum all planned out for all four years.
Although her sister was her role model and despite the fact her sister went to Saint Mary’s previously, Maureen couldn’t help Megan with a lot of the details of applying for and attending Saint Mary’s because she was always working. Megan had to figure out on her own how to fill out a FAFSA, when was orientation, and what she would need to bring for school.
Megan currently lives on campus and visits home often. Before she used to go home often, because she didn’t feel a close connection with any of the students on campus, even with her roommates. She began to get to know the girls in her dorm quite well, especially since some of them were also interested in the nursing major also. She developed a supporting group of friends. This group of friends helped bring her failing seminar grade to a B by the end of the fall semester. She is preparing for her second semester as a nursing major.
Keywords: registered nurse, GATE program, nursing program, first- generation college student, role model
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