Luissette D. Ramos, RN, BSN

My mother, my sister, my grandmother, and my great-grandmother were nurses. When I was in fifth grade, I went with my mom to her telemetry floor on Take Your Child to Work Day. I spent an entire 12-hour shift working with her, and I realized that was something that I wanted to do. Every step that I took after that was for nursing. I ended up in a medical magnet in high school, and that guided me to then go to college. I did a clinical rotation at the Miami Children's Hospital for my pediatrics rotation, which was nice. It was sad to see so many sick children, but it was also such a different environment. Not only did I have to bring my skills as a nurse, but I also had to bring a different part of myself to be able to work in pediatrics. Not just anybody can work there. I had to be creative, and I had to be happy. I had to be outgoing and colorful so that I could really get to the kids. The College of Nursing at FIU was a very rigorous program, and they pushed me. FIU Nursing helped me to understand the gravity of what I do as a nurse. They had very high expectations, and there was no room for mistakes because I was dealing with people's lives. It also helped me manage competing priorities and helped me organize myself. I knew what it was like to be challenged at FIU, and those skills allowed me to continue to move forward and achieve.