Jennifer Marie Radtke (Stephan), MSN, TCRN, CIC

When I was in high school, I thought I would just go to community college, but my parents told me to apply to one university, and I applied to Florida International. I knew my whole life that I wanted to become a nurse, and once I was at FIU, I never thought of going anywhere else. I wanted to be a nurse because I wanted to take care of people. I thought I wanted to be a labor and delivery or NICU nurse, but I found my love and passion was in emergency nursing. I love that nursing never gets stagnant. If I'm in a field and I want to change it, there are so many options out there. In my career, I've switched gears at least every five years. I've kept growing, learning, and joining different areas to further build upon my foundation. Nursing is so diverse; there's no way to get bored. All of the professors I had at FIU were amazing. They were the most loving, caring people. They reminded us to treat and take care of everybody the same way we take care of our family. I have so much respect for the incredibly strong women who came before us and took the time to teach us. They wanted us to be successful. I never had to worry about feeling stupid because they never judged anybody.