Nasira’s Journey to Nursing School
“Haley [Nasira’s Education Advocate] is like having a friend that knows about college and can help you. [...] She’s a really big help when I’m in a crisis. [...] I’ll be over here panicking, and she’s like, ‘It’s fine, we’ll just do this.’”
As a child, Nasira moved frequently, attending different schools before settling back in Washington in sixth grade. Struggling with mental health, she stopped going to school in ninth grade.
At 20, Nasira earned her GED at the Goodwill Youth GED Program (one of our program partners), and it was when she needed a laptop that she first learned about Northwest Education Access (NWEdA). After getting her GED, she connected with an Education Advocate and took the next big step—college. Today, she is studying pre-nursing at Tacoma Community College (TCC).
Over the years, Nasira has worked with three different Education Advocates from NWEdA, each offering a unique form of support. Her current Education Advocate is Haley, whom she describes as a mix between a mentor and a friend. “Haley is like having a friend that knows about college and can help you,” Nasira says. “She’s a really big help when I’m in a crisis. [...] I’ll be over here panicking, and she’s like, ‘It’s fine, we’ll just do this.’”
Nasira takes most pride in her resilience throughout her educational journey. She is currently retaking two courses for the third time—not because she failed, but because the nursing program requires a minimum grade just slightly above what she initially achieved. She shared, “It’s very frustrating because you're so close, but I've decided to just keep retaking them. And I think for me, that shows a lot of resilience and a lot of strength, because it's very frustrating to repeat a class, especially when you passed it the first time. But yeah, that's what I'm most proud of”.
In addition to one-on-one guidance from Haley, Nasira also received financial support from NWEdA to purchase materials she needed for her studies. For example, she needed Scantron sheets for her biology class but couldn’t afford them after covering tuition and books. In a moment of panic, she turned to Haley, who quickly reassured her that NWEdA could help. “I was panicking to Haley about it, [...] and she was like, ‘we have additional funds to help students with that kind of thing, so we could just meet, and I'll get you one,’” Nasira recalled.
Looking ahead, Nasira’s main goal is to pass her current classes and get into a nursing program. Her passion for caregiving has always been there—something she attributes to growing up around her mother, who was a Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA). While her mother worked with elderly patients, Nasira wants to focus on “the opposite end of life,” working with babies instead. “I’m just a natural-born caregiver,” she adds, “it's just what I do day in and day out. I don't really have to think about it. It's like second nature for me”.
