Super Kid’s next step is nursing school

Q: So you graduated this month from Stanwood High School and Skagit Valley College?

A: Yes, Running Start was great. All my classes this year were at the community college, but I played my senior season of tennis at Stanwood.

Q: We hear you are one of fewer than 100 students accepted into the top-rated University of Washington School of Nursing for the fall. You’ll be one of the youngest incoming students in that program, right?

A: Yes. I think other 17-year-olds have been accepted at the school, but I am in the minority for sure. I am used to be the youngest at school, so it’s OK.

Q: Are you excited? And how long is the program at the nursing school?

A: Yes, the UW is my dream school. Nursing is a two-year program with a lot of clinical work.

Q: Will you live in a dorm on campus?

A: Yes, at least for the first year. That’s good. That way, I can get to know other people my age.

Q: What area of nursing do you hope to pursue?

A: At first I thought I wanted to be a labor and delivery nurse, but now I want to be a flight nurse with an outfit such as Airlift Northwest.

Q: What does that involve?

A: I will have emergency room and trauma training and flight training. Flight nurses keep people alive while the team flies the patient to an emergency room.

Q: Sounds stressful.

A: But also exciting and unpredictable. My dad is an Everett fireman and I have ridden along with him. I also volunteered at Cascade Valley Hospital and did a job shadow with a nurse practitioner at Swedish Hospital in Seattle. There’s a lot of satisfaction that comes with helping people.

Q: Why did you chose Running Start?

A: I know what I want to do and I just don’t want to waste any time or have other people wasting my time. Skagit Valley College was a perfect fit for me. I have no regrets.

Q: What did you study at the college?

A: Lots of science. I had four biology classes, two chemistry classes and others. Prerequisites.

Q: Who are some of the teachers at Stanwood who you will remember?

A: George Colby, who was my FBLA (Future Business Leaders of America) adviser, and Kathy Redfern, who I had for AP calculus in my sophomore year.

Q: Advanced placement calculus when you were just a sophomore?

A: Yeah, I took a bunch of algebra and geometry at Port Susan Middle School.

Q: You played tennis all four years at Stanwood?

A: Yes, and I lettered when I was a freshman. This year my doubles partner and I got to state. I really appreciated my coaches, the late Ron Shanander, Trudy Abrams and Liz Currey.

Q: I understand you also have a job at Warm Beach Senior Community?

A: I had to get 100 hours of health care experience. Warm Beach is just a few minutes from my parents’ house. After awhile, they offered me an assistant job and I worked 15 hours a week. Lately, it’s been just on Sundays.

Q: Are the folks at the center going to miss you?

A: Well, I know they are excited for me.

Q: I bet your parents and siblings are excited for you, too.

A: I appreciate all of the opportunities that my mom and dad have given me. If not for the two of them, I would be nowhere near where I am today and I owe a lot to them.

Gale Fiege: 425-339-3427; gfiege@heraldnet.com.

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Local News

A firefighter stands in silence before a panel bearing the names of L. John Regelbrugge and Kris Regelbrugge during the ten-year remembrance of the Oso landslide on Friday, March 22, 2024, at the Oso Landslide Memorial in Oso, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
‘Flood of emotions’ as Oso Landslide Memorial opens on 10th anniversary

Friends, family and first responders held a moment of silence at 10:37 a.m. at the new 2-acre memorial off Highway 530.

Julie Petersen poses for a photo with images of her sister Christina Jefferds and Jefferds’ grand daughter Sanoah Violet Huestis next to a memorial for Sanoah at her home on March 20, 2024 in Arlington, Washington. Peterson wears her sister’s favorite color and one of her bangles. (Annie Barker / The Herald)
‘It just all came down’: An oral history of the Oso mudslide

Ten years later, The Daily Herald spoke with dozens of people — first responders, family, survivors — touched by the deadliest slide in U.S. history.

Victims of the Oso mudslide on March 22, 2014. (Courtesy photos)
Remembering the 43 lives lost in the Oso mudslide

The slide wiped out a neighborhood along Highway 530 in 2014. “Even though you feel like you’re alone in your grief, you’re really not.”

Director Lucia Schmit, right, and Deputy Director Dara Salmon inside the Snohomish County Department of Emergency Management on Friday, March 8, 2024, in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
How Oso slide changed local emergency response ‘on virtually every level’

“In a decade, we have just really, really advanced,” through hard-earned lessons applied to the pandemic, floods and opioids.

Ron and Gail Thompson at their home on Monday, March 4, 2024 in Oso, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
In shadow of scarred Oso hillside, mudslide’s wounds still feel fresh

Locals reflected on living with grief and finding meaning in the wake of a catastrophe “nothing like you can ever imagine” in 2014.

The rezoned property, seen here from the Hillside Vista luxury development, is surrounded on two sides by modern neighborhoods Monday, March 25, 2024, in Lake Stevens, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Despite petition, Lake Stevens OKs rezone for new 96-home development

The change faced resistance from some residents, who worried about the effects of more density in the neighborhood.

Rep. Suzan DelBene, left, introduces Xichitl Torres Small, center, Undersecretary for Rural Development with the U.S. Department of Agriculture during a talk at Thomas Family Farms on Monday, April 3, 2023, in Snohomish, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Under new federal program, Washingtonians can file taxes for free

At a press conference Wednesday, U.S. Rep. Suzan DelBene called the Direct File program safe, easy and secure.

Former Snohomish County sheriff’s deputy Jeremie Zeller appears in court for sentencing on multiple counts of misdemeanor theft Wednesday, March 27, 2024, at Snohomish County Superior Court in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Ex-sheriff’s deputy sentenced to 1 week of jail time for hardware theft

Jeremie Zeller, 47, stole merchandise from Home Depot in south Everett, where he worked overtime as a security guard.

Everett
11 months later, Lake Stevens man charged in fatal Casino Road shooting

Malik Fulson is accused of shooting Joseph Haderlie to death in the parking lot at the Crystal Springs Apartments last April.

T.J. Peters testifies during the murder trial of Alan Dean at the Snohomish County Courthouse on Tuesday, March 26, 2024 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Bothell cold case trial now in jury’s hands

In court this week, the ex-boyfriend of Melissa Lee denied any role in her death. The defendant, Alan Dean, didn’t testify.

A speed camera facing west along 220th Street Southwest on Tuesday, Nov. 21, 2023 in Edmonds, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
New Washington law will allow traffic cams on more city, county roads

The move, led by a Snohomish County Democrat, comes as roadway deaths in the state have hit historic highs.

Mrs. Hildenbrand runs through a spelling exercise with her first grade class on the classroom’s Boxlight interactive display board funded by a pervious tech levy on Tuesday, March 19, 2024 in Marysville, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Lakewood School District’s new levy pitch: This time, it won’t raise taxes

After two levies failed, the district went back to the drawing board, with one levy that would increase taxes and another that would not.

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.