I'm Shannon Beebe and I'm earning my Bachelor of Science in nursing from UK
College of Nursing. In the very beginning it was very difficult. I was a medic in
the Army for six years and so, the University of Kentucky had the Med Vet program and
it was offered to me so I jumped right on it! As a medic in the army, it teaches
a lot of discipline ,which is definitely something you need going into a program
as fast and furious as the nursing program. Challenges that I have
experienced have probably been a little more different than the traditional
student because I am a mother of five children! So I have a 20-year-old son, an
18-year-old son, a 16-year-old daughter, a 12-year-old daughter and a nine-year-old
daughter so the challenges that I have gone through are not just academic
challenges, they're family challenges and personal challenges. I have never seen
the amount of support like I've seen here at UK. I've had so many instructors
invest in me and even invest in my family. I am so excited to walk across
that stage and get my degree because it's definitely earned. I usually like to
use the term "tenacious," even when you have those difficult challenges you
continue to keep making progress one step at a time and I think that my
kids see that. I do know that they are very excited and they have seen what
I've overcome. Walking across that stage isn't about Shanon Beebe having a BSN, it's
about setting my family up for their future, as well. I really don't feel like
a hero, the things that I do on a daily basis are not because I'm looking
to get some kind of medal, but I do want to leave a legacy and what I want to do,
what I want to see happen, is that the world becomes a better place, if nothing
else, that I've raised children that have just a mindset that they want to help
people as well.
I am Esias Bedingar from Chad and I'm graduating with a public health major and a neuroscience
minor. I came here with no English, I'm graduating
from college here at UK, and now I'm going to Harvard.
It's just, I feel like I still haven't realized and I feel like it's just like a dream.
Getting a degree from UK is symbolic, because coming 30 years after my dad - that's something
I'm really proud of. My dad is my big role model.
Saying "oh, it's thanks to UK that he got successful".
So, saying that "ok, I went to UK and I hope to be as successful like he is right now".
So getting a degree here, at UK, means a lot. I would definitely say that I got into Harvard
because of the support of my mentors and also the research experience I got here at UK.
The thing that got me starting the research is thanks to an Honors class.
If you really want to get involved in research, UK is here to, like, push you and also help
you go there! I really want to eradicate malaria in Chad.
That's my ultimate goal. 40% of all deaths in Chad are due to malaria.
So I said: "I think I can do something about it".
That's when I started my own organization, Motocross for Malaria, to help people in
rural areas of Chad by delivering prevention, but also treatments, and I really want to
combine my clinical and my research experience together to try to do something about it.
It's just because I really want to help people and make an impact in there lives, so, yeah,
that's what really motivates me.
I'm Jenna Lyon and I’m graduatang from the University of Kentucky with a degree in elementary
education. When I was in high school, I started a dance program for kids with special needs
called A Chance to Dance and we just recently received our nonprofit status.
Gosh, if you would’ve asked me a couple years ago I never would have dreamed that
I would have a nonprofit and especially at this stage in my life. We’ve now grown from
four to 24 students. Sometimes I like get chills being up on stage with them. You can
just tell how excited and how happy and how much they love it. My intention with the program
was to offer kids with special needs the same opportunity other kids have with dance.
The College of Education has been wonderful too. I’ve taken a lot of really valuable
courses there and just learned a lot of teaching strategies that not only am I going to implement
into my future classroom but also, I’ve already started implementing them into my
dance program. Kids just need somebody to love them and to take the time to work with
them. These kids really do have the same capabilities as everyone else. I mean, they amaze me every
single week. They’ve become so much more outgoing. The class has had such a bigger
impact on the kids than I ever imagined.
I love my students so much. I consider my students heroes. Just seeing that even though
they have challenges they have to face, that we don't have to face, on a day to day basis
and what they’re able to accomplish. Really they have taught me anyone is capable of doing
anything. If you set your mind to something and you try and take the time, you can really
achieve anything.
I'm Paige Raque, I'm from Louisville Kentucky and I am graduating with my
master's in speech-language pathology from the College of Health Sciences. The
reason I got into this field was actually because of an accident I had my
sophomore year of college. In October of 2012, I was a cheerleader at Penn State
University. One night I fell out of a fifth floor
window and after that, everything changed. Well I was in a coma for a little over
two weeks, they told my parents, you know, we don't know if she'll ever wake up and
if she does wake up we don't know what you'll get. It was about a month and a
half after my injury that I I was there but I wasn't speaking. The first thing I
really remember from that point forward was when I started talking. Speech
therapy is so much more than speaking, you know, I had to get to speaking before
I could progress any further which is why I went into speech therapy. I mean
these people made such a difference in my life. You know, they didn't even know
if I would live, they didn't know that I could go back to school, no one thought
I'd graduate from college, and here I am graduating with my master's and I just
feel like I've overcome all odds. This program is so great, my classmates, the
professors, advisors and clinical instructors, they've all been incredibly
encouraging and supportive. I can't wait to give my patients hope because I
remember the feeling, I just wanted my life back I've had so
many patients tell me I just want to get my life back, I get that! I want to help
you get your life back, because somebody helped me get my life back
and so when it comes down to it that's, that's the reason I am doing this.