First Generation, Boundless Ambitions: Alyssa Nguyen’s Scholarship Story

Her experience with her grandfather motivated her to enroll in a dual degree program called Silicon Valley Career Technical Education (SVCTE) while she was still attending high school. Her program in SVCTE catapulted her medical knowledge, and solidified her decision to pursue a nursing education.

As her high school career would come to a close and decision time came for college, she had three choices, but when she thought about who was going to offer her the best career path for nursing, all roads led to USF.

A Myriad of Gifts

Nguyen, a first-generation student, didn’t know what to look for and what to expect going into college. However, after being selected to be a Read Scholarship recipient, she met students like herself.

“It (Read Scholarship) provided me opportunities to connect with other Read Scholarship recipients,” said Nguyen. “We came together as a community, and it became a support group. We are all first-generation college students — navigating the waters blindly, and it’s nice to help each other out together.”

The scholarship would not only offer Nguyen a built-in community and relief from tuition, but it allowed her to plan for her future and deepen her USF experience.

“It opened up my opportunities to more than just a bachelor’s. I am pursuing a master’s program too, said Nguyen. I hope to enroll in the Master of Science in Nursing (MSN) program next year.

I also saved up to go on a medical immersion program with USF in Lesotho and help improve the medical system in Southern Africa.”

Lesotho’s Lessons

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The Center for Global Education organizes an annual global health immersion program that acquaints USF students with the challenges faced by health systems in resource-limited countries. Nguyen and seven other USF students visited the mountain kingdom of Lesotho, a landlocked country surrounded by South Africa.

It was a mutual learning experience — USF students taught them health policies and ways to implement policy, and they (medical professionals in Lesotho) taught the students their history and background of healthcare policies and their healthcare system.

Together, they strategized on how to retain doctors, modes of transportation on how to distribute healthcare items, how to recruit out of country doctors to help lead residency programs, and how to improve the current status of main hospitals and healthcare sites.

“A key takeaway from my experience was their ability to innovate through limited resources,” said Nguyen. “One hospital ran out of the nasal cannulas that connect oxygen tubes for neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) babies, and a doctor was able to figure out how to oxygenate three NICU babies at a time instead of just using one nasal cannula per baby. It taught me to be grateful and appreciative of innovation, and how as healthcare professionals we are always trying to push the boundaries to treat patients.”

Through her scholarship, Nguyen has learned in clinical settings and immersion programs, and acquired hands-on experiences with patients. She has seen all the different paths of the career field before stepping foot into her first nursing job.

As Nguyen prepares for her next chapter, she knows that her USF scholarship granted her the college and career experience to feel confident in taking her next step in pursuing an MSN degree.

A scholarship can transform a student’s education, career, and life. Help us make a USF student’s dream come true.