Francesca D. Cardinale

My family consists mainly of artistic types. My family didn't have a lot of healthcare professionals. From a young age, I took an interest in biology. When I was 16, my mom was diagnosed with lung cancer. Going through that experience with her, taking her to chemotherapy, and helping her with her appointments and medication was my first introduction to what it was like to care for someone. That made me decide to pursue nursing. I had some amazing professors at the FIU College of Nursing. They always made us feel very comfortable. I lost my mom during nursing school, and I was thinking about leaving the program. They sat me down and worked with me so that I could go to school at half-time. That allowed me to grieve, take the time off that I needed, and still get my degree. I'm very grateful that FIU was able to work with me on that. I made lifelong friends in the program. I'm grateful that I studied something that I really cared about and found people I clicked with so well.