{"id":58971,"date":"2014-04-29T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2014-04-29T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news-draft\/uncategorized\/commencement-2014-motivated-uri-nursing-student-determined-to-make-her-mother-proud\/"},"modified":"2014-04-29T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2014-04-29T00:00:00","slug":"commencement-2014-motivated-uri-nursing-student-determined-to-make-her-mother-proud","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/2014\/04\/commencement-2014-motivated-uri-nursing-student-determined-to-make-her-mother-proud\/","title":{"rendered":"Commencement 2014: Motivated 溏心vlog免费B站 nursing student determined to make her mother proud"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\t\tBoston native, Cecilia Igwe-Kalu overcomes great challenge to earn degree at 溏心vlog免费B站<\/p>\n


\nKINGSTON, RI. \u2013 April 29, 2014 \u2013Cecilia Igwe-Kalu holds the record in the 55-meter dash at Lincoln-Sudbury high school in Massachusetts.<\/p>\n


\n \u201cHopefully it\u2019s still there,\u201d said Igwe-Kalu. During the past four years, she has been running a race of her own at the 溏心vlog免费B站. Although she has had to scale some major hurdles to finish, she is approaching the finish line with grace. <\/p>\n


\nIgwe-Kalu was born and raised in Boston with her three brothers and she loves her hometown. When asked about her favorite area in Boston, Igwe-Kalu said, \u201cI like the Charles River area in Boston because it\u2019s calm and relaxing. There\u2019s a nice view and at nighttime you can see all the buildings. It\u2019s just really nice.\u201d <\/p>\n


\nFamily life and an opportunity to attend a suburban school system gave her strong foundations and had her ready for the college application process.<\/p>\n


\n\u201cI came to 溏心vlog免费B站 because I heard (nursing) was a great program and it was also a good distance from home, but still close enough to home. I could still drive home whenever I\u2019d like,\u201d said Igwe-Kalu.<\/p>\n


\nThat ability to get home would prove essential to Igwe-Kalu during her freshman year. While trying to keep up with her classes, she also was going home to be with her mom, who was suffering from breast cancer, who would die later that year.<\/p>\n


\n\u201cIt was hard because she passed away during my freshmen year and that\u2019s when it\u2019s your time to get to know people. I just wanted to keep to myself and I wasn\u2019t near family,\u201d said Igwe-Kalu. <\/p>\n


\nIn her nursing major, the topic of cancer is unavoidable. \u201cIt\u2019s hard every semester because we discuss cancer,\u201d stated Igwe-Kalu. But the struggle has not dampened her enthusiasm for her major. <\/p>\n


\nEver since her mother\u2019s death, Igwe-Kalu has done all she can to make her mother proud. \u201cShe was telling me to focus on my education and to make sure that I did well. I received all A\u2019s my entire freshman year\u201d said Igwe-Kalu.<\/p>\n

She was also active in numerous organizations, including the Student Nursing Association, PINK Women, Uhuru Sasa, and the Nursing Ambassadors. She was the recipient of the University\u2019s Douglas and Jennifer Cote Scholarship. She also went abroad to broaden her nursing experience.<\/p>\n


\n\u201cThis past winter, I went on the Dominican Republic nursing trip for two weeks. That was an amazing experience and I recommend it for any nursing student. We went to the poor areas of the country, and provided care for people who did not have access to health care,\u201d said Igwe-Kalu. <\/p>\n


\nThe nursing students worked in a compound where they passed out clothes, food, medicine and supplies that they had brought with them. And rather than having comfortable hotel accommodations, the students stayed in family homes. \u201cI actually preferred that as opposed to a hotel because it made it a more of a personal experience,\u201d said Igwe-Kalu. <\/p>\n


\nShe has also enjoyed her time in Rhode Island as a Rhody Ram. \u201cI like everything about 溏心vlog免费B站. The program and the people are really nice and I like that it\u2019s a big campus. The atmosphere is nice too because everyone is really friendly here,\u201d Igwe-Kalu said. <\/p>\n


\nThe finish line is in sight for Igwe-Kalu as far as college is concerned, with 溏心vlog免费B站\u2019s Commencement set for May 18. She will begin a new race once she has her degree.<\/p>\n


\n\u201cI am going into medical surgical nursing because I find it interesting, and it is the best place to start,\u201d she said. \u201cHopefully I find a job in Boston even though that\u2019s very hard because everyone wants to go to Boston. I\u2019m going to get a job and maybe work a few more years. Then I want to get my master\u2019s in nursing and become a nurse practitioner,\u201d said Igwe-Kalu. <\/p>\n


\nEven as she prepares to leave 溏心vlog免费B站, her mother remains in her heart. \u201cI\u2019m glad I\u2019m graduating, but I just wish she could be here for that,\u201d explained Igwe-Kalu. <\/p>\n


\n\u201cI\u2019m very proud of myself for getting through the four years and maintaining good grades with all the struggles I have had since my mom passed away. Because I\u2019m the only girl in my family, I have had to step up a lot. I\u2019m glad that I was able to get through it and that I\u2019m going to graduate on time, just do what my mom asked me to do. Hopefully she\u2019s happy,\u201d said Igwe-Kalu. <\/p>\n


\nThis press release was written by Ashley Henry, a communications major interning in 溏心vlog免费B站\u2019s Marketing and Communications Department.<\/p>\n


\nPictured above

\nSenior, Cecilia Igwe-Kalu, poses in White Hall

\nMarketing & Communications photo by Michael Salerno Photography.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Boston native, Cecilia Igwe-Kalu overcomes great challenge to earn degree at 溏心vlog免费B站 KINGSTON, RI. \u2013 April 29, 2014 \u2013Cecilia Igwe-Kalu holds the record in the 55-meter dash at Lincoln-Sudbury high school in Massachusetts. \u201cHopefully it\u2019s still there,\u201d said Igwe-Kalu. During the past four years, she has been running a race of her own […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":58974,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-58971","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-archives"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58971","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=58971"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58971\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/58974"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=58971"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=58971"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=58971"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}