Nadia Castillo has always been good with numbers, but she never knew she had a gift for helping others as a healthcare professional.
In 2003, after the Laredo native quit her accounting job, a family member encouraged her to enroll in the one-semester nursing assistant certificate program at Laredo Community College.
There, Castillo discovered her love for nursing.
And today, the 24-year-old is less than three months away from receiving her associate degree in nursing (ADN) from LCC to become a registered nurse.
“I’ve always had a knack for working with numbers, so it seemed natural to pursue a career in accounting,” Castillo said. “However, I lost interest in this job.”
And soon Castillo found herself in need of a new direction in life for a brighter future.
Fortunately, one of Castillo’s cousins convinced her to give the LCC nursing assistant program a try.
The program is designed to train students in about four months with entry level skills to work in an array of health-related community agencies such as hospitals, nursing homes and doctors’ offices.
The training’s short duration was enough of an incentive to motivate Castillo, a single mother of three children, to enroll in the college program.
“At the time I enrolled in the nursing assistant program, my youngest was only two months old. I needed a training program that would give me time to spend with my kids,” Castillo said.
After completing the nursing assistant program, Castillo decided to enroll in the college’s one-year vocational nursing (VN) program.
After completing the VN program, she decided to take advantage of the associate degree nursing transition track offered by LCC.
The transition track is a time-saving advantage for licensed vocational nurses and emergency medical technicians who want to advance their careers via the college’s ADN program. Through the ADN transition track, students can complete the two-year program in one year.
Castillo is grateful for the benefits of the ADN transition track, which have allowed her to advance her college education in nursing and maintain employment at a local hospital.
“Through this program at LCC, I have been able to further my education and work to support my family and put my family in a new house,” Castillo said with a sense of pride.
She acknowledges the valuable support and guidance she has received from her instructors at LCC.
“The faculty at LCC has been very supportive, always encouraging me to keep up with my studies and succeed,” Castillo noted, adding that she received assistance for childcare and books from the college.
A licensed vocational nurse currently employed at the Doctors Hospital Women’s Center, Castillo looks forward with enthusiasm to the valuable contributions she plans to continue to make in the nursing field.
“Nursing is exciting,” Castillo said. “Having an opportunity to welcome a new life to this world is a priceless reward.”
Due to limited admission in each program of study, prospective students must apply for admission to enter a desired nursing or allied health program at LCC.
Applications for summer admission to the ADN transition track at LCC are currently accepted through March 23.
Additional information and applications for admission are available online at www.laredo.edu/healthsciences.
For more information, call the Associate Degree Nursing program at 721-5252.
Nadia Castillo, a licensed vocational nurse in pursuit of an associate nursing degree at Laredo Community College, looks forward to a brighter future in May when she graduates from the two-year nursing program, which she completed in one year via the college’s ADN transition track.
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