Changing Lives, Transforming Communities
The tnAchieves Blog
#FindYourWhyTN: Setting the Example
By: Kelsey Norris, tnAchieves Student
February 19, 2021
My name is Kelsey Norris, and I am currently a student at Roane State Community College working towards my nursing degree. I am from Jamestown, TN where I attended Clarkrange High School. I was the Salutatorian of my graduating Class of 2019. I have always had ambition and strive to do the best I can in school. I have also enjoyed making the best grades and giving the most effort in my classes. It was hard to decide what I truly wanted to be when I grow up. I first thought I wanted to be a pharmacist, so I started working in a pharmacy. Well, I love the people I work with, but I now realize that it is best for me to work hands-on with patients. I am not the type to enjoy standing behind a computer all day because I love interacting and helping anyone I can. I eventually realized that I wanted to become a nurse.
I have a hard time trying to keep up with all the classes for my nursing degree while also having a job. However, the thought of finally being able to help the ones that need it the most in my head reminds me of why I am going to college and pursuing my dream. I have never had anything handed to me. My mother was a single mom raising three kids all by herself. So, when I was younger and saw her smile every time I came home with an A on an exam or quiz, it meant the world to me. I know that if it was not for her always encouraging me to do the best, I may not have turned out the way I have. My mother did try going to college, but she was unable to finish due to her having three kids alone. She had to get a full-time job to take care of us. She has always sacrificed for my brothers and me, so for me to start and finish college, would not just be for myself. It would also be for my mother.
I have found plenty of reasons to go to college, which keep me going each day. However, two reasons outshine them all. First, I want to go to college to help people become healthier and live the best life they can. Second, I want to go to college and graduate, so I can come home and tell my mother to see that contagious smile on her face. The thought of me being a hand to hold or a shoulder to cry on for my patients makes me feel unstoppable and invincible when it comes to school. The thought of my mother being proud of me makes me work twice as hard to meet my goals. I want to also encourage other students to find their reasons for going to college and if you keep those reasons in your head, or even write them down somewhere you can see them all the time, I promise you will see your attitude completely turn around. You will begin to get excited about it. I told everyone my reasons for going to college, now I would love to hear your reasons.
