Meet Dalena Nguyen, HS ’25!
Tell us about yourself and what led you to UW Bothell: I am a first-year graduate within my intermediate family. My career goal is to become a physician’s assistant specializing in oncology or medical surgery. I am attending UW Bothell because I believe that it is a great school with many wonderful professors and opportunities!
Tell us what led you to choose your program: I chose to major in health studies as I feel like it is an open major with many different opportunities to explore great quantities of career options. Along with taking the major’s core classes, I have also been incorporating pre-pa classes into my schedule and I believe that this was the perfect major as it concentrates on many different aspects of the healthcare field.
How has your experience in your coursework helped you find your career or educational pathway (area of focus)? You may want to tell us about a moment at UW Bothell that you are proud of, and what has fueled your passion: I always knew that I wanted to pursue a career within the healthcare field, but I wasn’t exactly sure which path I wanted to take. Upon taking my required core classes, health electives are also part of the major. I took a cancer and biology class and found it super memorable and interesting. I believe that taking this class did fuel my curiosity to look further into the field of oncology and medical surgery.
Did you participate in a fieldwork class? Tell us about your project and its impact on you and on the community: I am currently doing my fieldwork project this quarter. I am gaining experience by being the social media intern for UW Bothell’s School of Nursing and Health Studies. I do believe that this experience that I am gaining through this opportunity is meaningful as it not only gives me the chance to improve on my communication and health research skills, but it also lets me help the community by spreading awareness and information that relates to health or our program.
Share a memorable course or learning experience: A memorable course that I remember taking was one of the health elective classes about infectious disease. I thought that it was super captivating especially after dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic, it is interesting to see how the world handles sickness before and now and how much it is still evolving.
What are your future plans?: After graduation, I plan to get more experience within the healthcare field by getting a job where I can be hands-on and get tons of more experience before applying to a P.A program (hopefully MEDEX). I then hope to be able to also go on and specialize in a field such as oncology or medical surgery.
Was there a faculty, staff or student service that had a positive impact on your success?: I personally feel like my advisor did a great job on helping me navigate through my courses and planning for the future. It would have been a complete mess trying to figure out how to finish all of my major’s credits while also trying to include pre-pa classes as well.
Did you feel UW Bothell has helped you envision how you can take your work in the classroom and put it into direct practice with community organizations?: I feel that my time here at UW Bothell has been very valuable and the opportunities given here will help prepare me for success later down the line after graduation.
What else would you like to share? Good luck to everyone reading this! 🙂