This is Arlene Mae Alegre. She is a hardworking student at HPU and is expected to graduate on-track in Fall 2018. She is a James Campbell High School alumni—go Sabers!—and was one of the top students of her graduating class. She has lived in Hawaii for the majority of her life, but left to go attend a university on in the continental U.S. I had the opportunity of interviewing her, chronicling her experience going off-island and her experience in the nursing program.
1. I know you’re a transfer student. What school did you originally attend before HPU?
Yes, I am a transfer student. Before coming to HPU, I also attended Whitworth University, a private institution in Spokane, Washington, where I had finished my first two years of college and completed my nursing pre-requisites.
2. What was your experience like there? Did you like it?
My experience at Whitworth University was truly amazing; there really aren’t enough words to truly explain the amount of knowledge, experience, and compassionate love that the community of Whitworth had given to me. Being a first-generation student, it definitely was hard leaving home and making such a big decision to go so far for college. The endless phone calls to home, telling my parents how much I hated being away and how much I wanted to come home was the way my college career started, and that’s how I felt like the rest of my time there was going to be. But months passed, and the transition to the weather, the people, and the distance all began to fade as the Whitworth community welcomed me into their family more and more.
During my short time there, I was also able to do a lot. I not only met amazing professors, counselors, and administrators who taught me all the things I would have not learned here back at home, but I also made amazing friendships and relationships that taught me a lot. I learned a lot about myself and what I like and don’t like, I learned a lot about my faith, and most of all I learned a lot about diversity. I earned a leadership position as a cultural diversity advocate (CDA) in my last year at Whitworth, and got to work with international students and all of Whitworth’s student body and got to teach and learn about diversity within our communities.
Living in Hawaii, this was never brought to my attention but living in a small suburban town for two years I could implement the idea of diversity and that is something I am glad to bring to my own community at home and to my vocation. My mind was truly opened to so many things and Whitworth had showed me an education and a community that lived up to their mission statement of a mind and heart education. As much as I would cry having to leave home to go back to Washington for school after breaks, I cried even more when I had to leave Whitworth because it truly was an amazing experience where I had the chance to truly find myself and gained the compassion of a mind and heart education, and I knew I couldn’t have grown so much anywhere else.
3. What prompted you to apply to HPU’s nursing program?
From all the excitement and love I gained for Whitworth, the decision of leaving Whitworth was one of the hardest things I had to do. I truly felt like Whitworth University was my perfect match. But as I began to apply for nursing school I also began to think about my future and how my post-grad life would be, I knew in the end I wanted to start my career as a nurse in the place where I grew to love nursing.
I found my compassion for my vocation here back home in Hawaii, through volunteering at various places, one of them being St. Francis Hospice. I knew that as a nurse I wanted to give back to those who helped me get to where I would be by Fall 2018. I began applying to come back home and one of the only universities I actually applied to was HPU. I knew that the competition was high and only applying to one university was truly taking a big leap, but I truly knew that there isn’t any other university that was as close to Whitworth’s mission statement like HPU was. Also from talking to my mentors back at Whitworth they were also confident that HPU would help continue my heart and mind education therefore I gave it a chance, I submitted my nursing application and my journey with HPU began.
4. What can students expect when they’re applying to the nursing program?
Applying into any nursing program is competitive. Be sure that your grades and GPA overall meet their requirements. Although grades don’t truly speak to the type of student you are, your grades get you recognized. Not only are your grades important, but also make sure you have good recommendations that truly speak to the type of person you are; make sure you pick the best people in your life to write these rec letters for you. Make sure your resume is organized and that is has been checked by someone else like the writing center on campus. Double check, if not triple check that everything is in straight in your application and that you have submitted everything you need to. Overall, just relax and pray for the best outcome. At the end everything always works out, and if the outcome isn’t in your favor always know it just leaves more room for you to grow and better yourself.
5. What are some special skills that students need when they’re in the nursing program?
Some special skills that students need when they’re in the nursing program are time management and organization. Once the semester starts, readings, quizzes, and exams come in like its pouring rain, it never stops and they only get harder. So, make sure you give yourself time to catch up when you need to and that you are able to complete all your work in a timely manner. Grab a planner or any type of scheduling system and use that to schedule your time wisely so that you don’t fall behind. The work is truly rigorous and there is no such thing as “rounding up” or special treatment. So be ready to work your hardest!
6. Do you have any advice for students who decide to apply for the nursing program?
The main advice I have for students who decide to apply for the nursing program is truly just to WORK HARD AND GO FOR IT. Yes, the work is truly rigorous, the professors are hardcore and truly challenge you, and the clinical sites are all different and hard to get the perfect one you want. But at the end we are so privileged to have an education and to become nurses so just go for it! Take what you are given and run with it – the only person who has control over your experience in the nursing program is yourself. Utilize everything you are given and the time you have in nursing school because it truly is crazy how fast it goes.
Most of all, remember to take care of yourself. The endless nights of studying and all the emotions poured out into this program truly takes a toll on you and does catch up to your mentality and overall health, so put yourself first and take everything one step at a time!
If you see Arlene Mae Alegre on campus, feel free to say hi and ask her for tips about the nursing program!