Jeanette Brenda Deniz

I was a foreign medical graduate, and FIU Nursing allowed foreign medical graduates to complete their BSNs through an accelerated option in one year. The program was 14 months, and I am back in school now in my third semester for my master's degree. I will be pursuing my doctorate after I graduate from my current program and will be finished with school in 2025. I got my doctorate in 2005 in the Dominican Republic, and I moved to Miami and worked in veterinary medicine for 14 years. I needed to get back to working with human beings and still had a passion for medicine. Now I work in an oncology unit. Dr. Mark Fonseca was my simulator. He was nice, cool, and down to earth. He also liked to teach, which was awesome. I gained the ability to work in the medical field at FIU, and that was something that I always wanted to do. I also enjoyed going to the soccer games on campus with my daughter before the COVID-19 pandemic started in the middle of my BSN. It was extremely difficult to find a hospital to complete the 165-nursing hours needed for graduation. FIU Nursing made it possible. Everybody in my class graduated. My graduation was online. My first day of classes made me happy. I couldn't believe I was back in school, and I felt like I had made it.