Cheyenne had no idea that while shopping for scrubs for her first semester at San Jacinto College’s Nursing program, she’d have a conversation that would change everything. She was beyond excited about starting her journey, finally making her childhood dream a reality. But along with that excitement came the stress of figuring out how to afford the books, tools, and scrubs she needed. She knew the costs would be a challenge even before applying, but nothing was going to stop her.
The second the store clerk mentioned Capital IDEA Houston, she had her phone out—scrolling, searching, and sizing up the opportunity in minutes. Fully funded tuition, books, fees, uniforms—every educational expense covered? It sounded too good to be true. But Cheyenne isn’t one to miss an opportunity. A few clicks later, she was applying, and before she knew it, she had secured the sponsorship and all the perks that come with being a CIH participant.
Now in her second year of the Associate Degree in Nursing program, Cheyenne is one step closer to doing what she’s always wanted—bringing care, comfort, and cheer to people when they need it most. These days, studying takes up most of her time, but when she gets a break, she’s binging anime and hitting up conventions with friends, making sure to balance the grind with a little fun.
I had an absolute blast chatting with her and truly appreciate her sharing a bit of her journey with me. Read on to learn more about her experience, her passion for nursing, and why she rules! The interview below has been edited and condensed for clarity.
Jorge: What were you doing before you got into the nursing program?
Cheyenne: Struggling my butt off with prerequisites. It was a really hard time. I didn't know if I could get into the nursing program. My dad would say “This is so much money. Are you sure if you apply, you'll get in?” And I was just faking my confidence and would say back, “Yeah, I'll get in!” In in reality, this was the only thing that I’ve ever thought about doing; since I was a little baby.
I thought about coding at one point because, you know, like those old websites you could code your own little blog and I was interested in that but I didn't want to sit on my butt all day. You know what I mean?
Jorge: For sure, I can see how coding can be a lot more isolating than nursing. How nursing is a lot more social. How did you know you wanted to go into the medical field?
Cheyenne: My mom was in-and-out of the hospital most of my childhood. I think she got very unlucky and took a lot of medications that messed up her organs and messed up her overall health and there was no recovering after all that. She just keeps having these health issues. It was very traumatic, and I can't imagine how it was for her.
I saw the crappy situation that she was in. And then the nurses came in and they would be lightening the mood. She actually smiled. First day out of maybe a week. She was very depressed. And I was like, “You know…? I want to make my mom smile! I want to be a nurse.”
For now, I just want to get started being a bedside nurse or like an OR nurse or something like that. Eventually I want to get into anesthesia. Later, I mean much further along my career I definitely want to apply to the anesthesia program.
Jorge: Specializing in a particular field seems like an exciting goal to work toward and can help guide you along your health career path. How does what you are doing today impact tomorrow?
Cheyenne: Yeah, I definitely want to start out in ICU. I pray and pray and pray, but I still don't know all of the specifics of the residency program, but I am excited to put into practice everything I’ve been learning and you know, nursing school is not the same as actual nursing. In school, we are just prepping for the test but the residency program is where our understanding will really take off.
We'll see how applying to those programs will go. I'm planning on reaching out to the person on your team that helps with interviews and the job-hunting process…
Jorge: Oh yeah, Daryl from Career Services!
Cheyenne: Yes, and I was planning to reach out to him to help with resumes, cover letters that kind of stuff. I want to just spend some time preparing to apply to these residency programs and hopefully it goes well.
Jorge: Those things take a lot more time than you think so giving yourself as much time as possible is really smart. Putting the effort into can make a world of difference.
Cheyenne: Yeah. So, I'm planning on doing that. I don’t know how it will pan out, but I’ll give it my best shot. Now with nursing school, like I said, like my mom has a lot of health issues and whatnot. She got diagnosed with cancer so that's been like taking a big, big, big, chunk of my energy. But thanks to the Capital IDEA Houston VIP sessions I’ve had the space to process this kind of stuff.
In the VIP sessions we talk about caring for yourself and prioritizing your wellbeing. Things like not needing permission from anybody to take your own break. You don't need validation from anyone, and that's been really helping me. Just those simple VIP sessions have been helping me a lot with my mental.
Jorge: That’s great to hear, I was just going to ask you about what has been the most meaningful support you've received while involved with the program?
Cheyenne: Well, everyone that I've come into contact with is super nice especially Mariah (CIH Lead Career Navigator). She's just so sweet. She was one of the first people that I talked to. And she was really encouraging me during the application to not give up and I so appreciated her for taking the time and listening to me.
It seems like every time when I'm like in that really low-down point, I'll attend either an in person meeting or a virtual thing and it's just the thing I need to get out of whatever rut I’m feeling. Those meet ups help to remind us that we have power over ourselves and our ability to advocate for ourselves. Basically, any of the strategies that we’ve talked about in VIP sessions has stuck with me.
Jorge: So how did it feel when you finished that first semester?
Cheyenne: Oh my gosh, I was like, I didn't even know that I had finished it! It just drained me so badly and because COVID hit, I took most of my classes online and I hate online, but I'm one of the people who can actually do it, like sit down and do my work and get it done.
That was probably the only good thing about online classes, but after that, I got thrown into like my first real college classes and they were nursing classes and it was so difficult. It was like five days a week of long class hours. It was a lot. But I was so thankful, I was so happy. I thought to myself, “maybe I can do this.” It kind of boosted my ego a little bit, like, “oh, I can get through this. I can get through anything.” But I know I got a long way to go. I just I got my foot in the door and I need to keep trying to push myself through that door.
Jorge: Yeah, that's great. So, what do you do when things get stressful when things get hard? What is it that keeps you going?
Cheyenne: So I made a Pinterest board. It's like an inspiration. I have nursing staff and cute little things that I really enjoy and things that have helped me get this far, like for instance like singers like Ariana Grande. I also speak to a health at San Jac. She’s great and we've been working on a vision board together.
Another thing is daydream about the future, like when I'll be done with nursing school. Or like when I'm done with my first year of working when everything gets like, really real.
Jorge: That all must be very exciting to think about. You’ll be there in no time, I’m sure. What advice do you have for someone who wants to go to college but is worried about not being able to handle it?
Cheyenne: I've always been told by my mom, in reference to going is to just get it done, get it out of the way. Take any breaks, of course, if that’s what’s necessary for you. Sometimes people have to take breaks, but I was lucky enough to go straight through. And I'm going to try to continue to do that. So, if someone just has that slight urge to go back to school, just get it out of the way and get it done.
I told myself that my future self will be so happy that my past self just dealt with it and got through it. That's really how I get through all of this. Just think about the future and how grateful I’ll be to have gotten stuck through it and made it to the other side.