This is a multi-part series celebrating Arizona College of Nursing students, their stories, and their embodiment of the AZCN values.
In 2023, Arizona College of Nursing established the AZCN Values Scholarship Fund as a way to celebrate our values with our colleagues, our students, and the communities in which we serve. Each time an AZCN colleague recognizes another colleague for demonstrating our values, $5 is added to the scholarship fund. These add up to $5,000 scholarships awarded to students the following year who have demonstrated our values within their communities.
Join us in celebrating 2024 AZCN Values Scholarship recipient Dora Bobadilla Torres as she shares some of her journey to nursing.
Nursing Education and Volunteer Work: Dora’s Story
Meet AZCN Values Scholarship Recipient, Dora Bobadilla Torres, a Nursing Student at the AZCN Tempe Campus. In addition to her Nursing education, Dora has volunteered over one hundred hours at the St. Vincent de Paul Medical Clinic, providing care as a medical assistant, phlebotomist, scribe, and translator.
Dora’s Essay: Embracing Nursing to Serve Her Community
As a first-generation Mexican American from an economically disadvantaged background, receiving the Arizona College of Nursing Values Scholarship would help me meet the future healthcare needs of my community by allowing me to focus more time on school and learning essential nursing skills, and less on work. With the additional time given to me from the scholarship, I would be able to focus on studying and hone in all the skills it takes to succeed as a student and become a well-rounded nurse.
Helping my community through healthcare is a journey I undertook as growing up, I experienced firsthand the barriers faced by immigrant communities in receiving quality healthcare, especially when it comes to language barriers, financial limitations, and immigration status. My parents ingrained in me the significance of hard work and resilience, even if the odds were stacked against us. This was able to teach me responsibility as well as give me a way to learn how to engage with those around me to help make the community a better place for everyone, both of which are values stated within our mission. Additionally, my ultimate goal is to work in a place that allows me to care for vulnerable populations, including children and people who have limited access to healthcare, such as my parents did.
However, due to my family’s financial standing, focusing solely on my education has proven to be extremely difficult, on not just me, but also my whole family. Receiving the Arizona College of Nursing Values Scholarship would help better align me with the mission as it would allow me to better prepare as a student to meet the community’s future healthcare needs. The extra time granted to me from the funds would be spent volunteering to put my skills to use and refine them. Furthermore, being granted this scholarship would help meet my community’s future healthcare needs as it would also serve as an inspiration to others in similar situations who may be turned away from studying medicine. With more people inspired to join the field, healthcare would be more readily available and accessible to the community.
Moreover, as a first-generation Mexican American student, I believe my educational journey embodies the core values of Arizona College of Nursing of cultural competence, compassion, and advocacy. My experiences navigating the healthcare system as a child, as well as an adult, have truly shown the impact cultural sensitivity and elective communication can have while providing quality care. Being bilingual has allowed me to experience what it is like navigating the healthcare system flustered, young, and scared. I understand how important it is to provide culturally competent care which includes elective communication as well as compassion for diversity. These values are not just words on paper, but principles that firmly guide my everyday actions and interactions with patients and their families. To demonstrate my values and put my beliefs in action, I have dedicated more than seven hundred hours to receiving my Medical Assisting and Phlebotomy certificates solely to volunteer over one hundred hours at St. Vincent de Paul Medical Clinic; a medical clinic that provides care for a predominantly impoverished Hispanic community that does not speak English, at no charge. My volunteer work there as a medical assistant, Phlebotomist, Scribe, and Interpreter has truly shown me the impact that therapeutic communication and compassion can have.
By awarding me the Arizona College of Nursing Values Scholarship, the college would be investing in not only a student who embodies its mission and values, but also a dedicated healthcare professional committed to serving their community. This scholarship would not only enable me to further engage in my studies and clinical experiences, but it would also allow me to continue volunteering and helping the community I love and care about.
Reflecting on the Tempe Campus Experience
Q: How did you find Arizona College of Nursing?
A: I am currently going to the Tempe campus at AZCN. I found AZCN by looking online. I was looking at different nursing schools and I really liked the location. I really like the hands-on experience that they provide not just clinicals, but also the simulations and all of that.
Q: What are things that you like about the Tempe campus or college community?
A: I really like the community and the staff here. I think they make it important to show their support, especially the counselors. They check in every few weeks or months just to make sure everybody’s doing well. And if you’re struggling in class, they reach out and they try to help you improve. There’s always support.
Q: How would you describe the Tempe campus or college community?
A: I like that the classes are small, so the professors get to be more personal and pay more attention to you. I like having a small group for the whole semester, it helps build really good bonds with other students. I think that’s really important in nursing school, especially with study groups and being with other people who are taking the same course with the same professors, same lab times, and schedules. It makes it really easy to feel supported.
Start Your Future in Nursing Today
If you’re considering a career as a registered nurse (RN), Arizona College of Nursing is here to help you pursue your dream. Our BSN program enables you to earn a Bachelor of Science in Nursing in just 3 years or less with qualifying transfer credits. We’ve helped hundreds of students to earn a BSN degree and enter the nursing profession – and we’re ready to support you on your path to becoming an RN.
Why Choose Arizona College of Nursing?
- Earn a BSN degree in 3 years or less with eligible transfer credits
- Campus locations throughout the US
- Night classes for general education courses
- Hybrid Online/In-Person format for general education classes
- Nursing education is all we do
- CCNE-Accredited Program*
- NCLEX-RN success coaches and exam preparation class
- Financial aid available to those who qualify
Discover Your Path to a Career in Nursing
Information in this post is accurate as of .
*The Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) degree program at Arizona College of Nursing is accredited by the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (https://www.aacnnursing.org/). All Arizona College of Nursing and Arizona College campuses are institutionally accredited by the Accrediting Bureau of Health Education Schools (https://www.abhes.org/), a U.S. Department of Education-recognized accrediting agency.