Valencia College Stories

Medicine Man

大卫·格林30多岁开始上大学，发现了教育改变人生的力量

— by Linda Shrieves

当大卫·格林还是个孩子的时候，他痴迷于克隆恐龙并把它们带来 back to life. That small boy dreamed of a career in gene editing.

这些梦想可能因为他家庭生活的困难而偏离了轨道，但是 今天，格林是澳门美高梅网上赌场官网学院杰出毕业生的决赛选手之一 in 2024 – is chasing his dreams of a career in medicine.

格林的大学之路曲折曲折，但从他从温特大学毕业开始 在2007年的帕克高中，有一件事一直在他的生活中不变：照顾 people. 高中毕业后，格林开始在一家临终关怀医院工作，同时获得了认证 nursing assistant certification.

在临终关怀领域工作期间，格林决定进入奥兰多技术学院学习 to earn his licensed practical nursing certification. At first, he took the easiest 因为，他说：“我真的很害怕自己会不及格.”

2009年，他获得了LPN学位，但疑虑一直困扰着他.
“I waited six months to take my boards,” recalls Greene. “I was terrified, but I passed on the first try.”

在获得LPN认证后，格林换了另一份工作，这次是工作 in a group home for developmentally disabled adults. He stayed in that job for five years, before the group home was sold to another company.  At that point, Greene applied 他高中毕业后就在临终关怀医院工作，他们雇了他 him on the spot.

回想起来，他意识到自己的自信心很低. “I was afraid to try new things. I was afraid, so I gravitated to the familiar,” he says.

但病人和管理人员对格林大加赞赏. He won two in-house awards 并被评为“年度最佳临床医生”，这是由美国临床医生协会颁发的全国性奖项 company. 他在2019年又获得了一个奖项，但他仍然淡化了这一荣誉 – at least to himself.

“当我获得所有这些奖项的时候，我不知道这是否意味着什么，或者 that it would look good on a resume,” he says. “I thought, ‘Oh, my patients like me.’ “

然而，在临终关怀领域的工作也教会了格林很多关于家庭动态的知识 他开始意识到他自己的家庭已经被酗酒所困扰.

“Hospice made me realize what a normal family is like. I thought what I went through was normal,” he says, reflecting on a chaotic home life. “Then at hospice, I saw how 其他家庭如何处理悲痛，以及其他家庭如何对待彼此，而我 thought, ‘aha.’ ”

他也喜欢临终关怀领域，因为他真的可以发展亲密的关系 with his patients. “临终关怀很好，因为我可以和病人一起工作 more personal way. A lot of patients said that I was a part of their family.”

与垂死的病人一起工作可能会让很多人感到困扰，但格林试图这样做 bring solace to the patients and their families.

“我会治疗70、80、90岁的病人，”他说. “Generally, they had lived a long and healthy life. Being able to go in and help them understand what was going to happen next, it helped relieve their anxiety.”

 

Taking a big step

2020年，在高中毕业十多年后，格林决定入学 at Valencia College, while working full-time. His goal at the time was to earn a nursing degree. 由于不确定自己在大学里的表现如何，他只报了两门课：代数 1和为对医疗保健专业感兴趣的学生开设的新学生体验班.

“高中的时候，我的代数学得很糟糕，我想，‘我需要把它学好； I need to learn how to learn.’” Along the way, Greene discovered that he suffered 从困扰着许多大学生的心态——如果他们挂科了，他们 can’t ever master that material.

“很长一段时间，我都觉得如果数学不及格，我就永远无法克服这一点。” he says. “如果我挂了一门课，我就会想，‘我不够好，不能再继续下去了.’”

但在一位澳门美高梅网上赌场官网学院教授的指导下，他意识到自己可以反思 on his failures and, with hard work, overcome them.

有了这些知识，他开始学习越来越难的课程：生物、化学、 物理，有机化学，统计学，甚至三角学和微积分. As he advanced 通过这些课程，格林意识到他的计划和目标已经逐渐改变了. 他开始考虑主修工程或医学预科，而不是护理专业.

“我扪心自问，决定我真的不能放弃与病人的互动， 这是我每天在医疗保健领域喜欢做的事情，”他说. For guidance, 他求助于他最喜欢的澳门美高梅网上赌场官网学院教授之一理查德·桑索内 taught him Portuguese. “Sansone said, ‘Of course you should go into medicine. You’re a people person!’ ”

如今，2024年5月从澳门美高梅网上赌场官网学院（Valencia College）毕业后，大卫·格林（David Greene）将担任 to UCF to major in biomedical science. From there, he plans to apply to medical school.

 

Advice for others nervous about college

对于那些推迟上大学的学生，或者那些刚从高中毕业的学生 35岁的格林提供了一些建议 advice.

“At Valencia, there are so many advantages,” he says. “It’s a soft introduction, but 对于那些年轻、害怕和害怕的学生来说，这种经历更柔和、更容易， and don’t know how to speak up and assert for themselves. Having these small classes 在那里他们可以与同学和教授合作，我会推荐给任何人.”

他说，这些人际关系和小班授课可以帮助你找到自我.

“我明白了，任何人都可以完成任何事情，如果他们真的想，但如何 当你在一个更小的社区里完成这些事情要容易得多 this at Valencia,” Greene says. “Better relationships, better letters of recommendation. 我很感激与教授甚至同学的一对一的关系. 这些关系是非凡的，会改变你这个人. That’s what college has done for me – it’s changed me as a person.”