This past year has been incredibly eventful and surreal. I accomplished things that I have been dreaming of doing for years. Over this past year, I worked hard in my senior year at Anna Maria College. During this year, I got to continue playing my two favorite sports - field hockey and ice hockey, as well as excelling in my nursing class. Due to the hard work that I put in over my four years at this school, I was given the honor of speaking at my college graduation. During that speech I talked about my “Ohana”, the Hawaiian word for family. I talked about how growing up on the island and my time in college helped me create a group of people that I consider my family. Due to the support of this large family and hard work, I was able to get to where I am today. After graduating college with my bachelors degree in nursing, I went on to pass my nursing boards exam in July. I was officially a registered nurse. Instead of going right into the workforce after that, I decided to go back to school for a semester. During this semester, I worked to get a minor in psychology. I was fortunate enough to be able to compete in my last season of field hockey and become a part of the coaching staff for our college's ice hockey team. After finally saying my final goodbye to college, I transitioned into the workforce. I accepted a job at the Brigham and Women's hospital in Boston on a Neuro step down floor. I am incredibly excited and thankful for the opportunities MVYouth has given me. It is because of their support that I get to be where I am today.
Meghan Sonia - Anna Maria College
Over the past semester, I have been getting very excited about finishing my senior year and college career. I have just realized how fast time flies when you're having fun. Looking back on my four years, I have seen just how lucky I am to have spent my four years at such a fantastic school. I was so fortunate to be able to have followed my love for science into a degree in nursing while also being able to continue my passion for athletics and playing both field hockey and ice hockey.
This semester I had two amazingly educational classes. I took community health and family health where I learned to care for pediatric patients, pregnant women, and members of the community outside of the hospital setting. These classes helped me expand my knowledge and I have become more eager to pass my boards and get to apply this knowledge to the real world. My best experience this semester was my clinical rotation. My clinical rotation was at UMass Memorial Hospital. During this clinical experience, I shadowed a nurse and cared for patients. While working alongside these nurses, I got to take notes on how they helped their patients and began developing my clinical skills. This clinical helped me gain confidence in the clinical skills that I will be using within the next year. I will forever be thankful to MVYouth for giving me the opportunity to go to such an amazing school. The past four years have given me such great experiences, both in the classroom and out that I will carry with me for the rest of my life.
Meghan Sonia - Anna Maria College
This past semester has been another adventure in itself. This semester, as a junior at Anna Maria College, began to have a more normal feeling. It started in August when I came back early for my field hockey preseason. There was an exciting ‘energy’ among campus that lacked the past year. Our field hockey season was challenging, but we reminded ourselves how lucky we are to be back on the field. I also was lucky enough to get back on the ice for our ice hockey season. Despite the covid setbacks last year, our hockey team came out more forceful this season. We are on track for setting a historic record season in wins.
I had a phenomenal first semester of my junior year within the classroom. This was my first semester with only nursing classes, in addition, my first clinical experience. I took pharmacology where I learned about 250 medications that I will see in my career. I also took a health assessment class which involved learning about our hands-on inspection of each patient we encounter. Lastly, I took a fundamentals class that incorporated my first clinical. In the classroom, we learned about procedures that nurses could perform in the hospital. My clinical was truly my best experience. I was given one patient to take care of once a week and I learned so much from this. I worked alongside nurses to administer this patient’s medications, perform daily care, and learn how to interact with different types of patients. Next semester I will get more clinical opportunities to strengthen my technical and interpersonal skills. As Covid and our lives are ever-changing, I am excited to see what is in store for me. I am beyond grateful to MVYouth for giving me this opportunity to have these experiences. Thank you so much.
Meghan Sonia - Anna Maria College
Even though this semester and year have been a little unusual and at times difficult, my semester was one of my best yet academically. This semester I pushed myself and enrolled in eight courses. Six of those were ranging from Organic Chemistry to Theology to a Photo class. With this semester being my last year before my challenging nursing classes begin, I decided to get involved a bit more with the school. This semester, on top of my 6 required classes I decided to become a peer mentor and help the incoming freshmen during this trying year. It was such a rewarding experience, especially this year because there were very few opportunities for freshmen to learn from upperclassmen. As for the rest of my courses, I was fortunate enough to thrive due to the low amount of cases which allowed us to remain in-person for the majority of my classes. I was also incredibly fortunate to be able to participate in both field and ice hockey with a limited amount of restrictions. Since we weren’t allowed to compete, we used this time to focus on our skills and better our weaknesses. If we can compete in our spring season, we will be able to use the skills that we practiced this fall and apply them to game-time scenarios. This semester was a growing time. I learned three major things when faced with adversity. I have to accept that I cannot change what is happening, be willing to adapt my plans to my new world, and continue to push myself and not let myself use that obstacle as a reason to not succeed. I am so thankful to MVYouth for giving me this opportunity to learn how I can react in the face of adversity while also bettering my education.
Meghan Sonia - Anna Maria College
During my first semester at Anna Maria College, as a Nursing Major, I had many new and wonderful experiences. These experiences first began in the classroom. I jumped right into my first semester with six rigorous honors classes. These included English, Psychology and Sciences. All of the professors were widely experienced in their field. My Anatomy and Physiology were both challenging but intriguing, lecture and lab classes pushed me to think and understand different parts of the body. I had to begin to learn about tissues, bones, muscles and how all these systems worked together. This school and its professors have begun to set me up to have the best success possible with hands-on learning and small classes. Outside of the classroom, I am very involved with sports and organizations affiliated with the athletics at Anna Maria as a dual-sport athlete. During the fall, I played on the field hockey team, which helped my transition into the school and met a few of my closest friends. The team also got me involved with different programs around the school and the community. Through the team, we have done volunteer work within Worcester/Paxton as well as just around the school, by being a part of the “Day of Giving” event!I also got involved with the Student Athletic Advisory Committee, which helps put on fundraisers and activities around the school to get students involved and grow our community. Currently in season, I am playing for the Girls Ice Hockey team as a forward. I am so thankful to MV Youth Workforce and its donors to have given me the chance to have these different learning and life experiences and the best school for me. Thank you for the support that will only help strengthen my education at Anna Maria College.