Hi, I’m Veronica Tingzon. I am a fourth semester student in the Associate Degree in Nursing (Registered Nurse) program. I am on track to graduate with my RN in May 2021. Beyond that, I am already accepted and enrolled in an RN to BSN transition program through Ohio University starting in the fall. My end goal is to teach nursing, so I hope to someday obtain my masters and maybe even my doctorate. The clincher is that I am about to turn 49 years old, so I am on a time clock.

When I was younger, I wasn’t very good at school. At that time, Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) were not known to be afflictions that girls were diagnosed with. However, I can remember my third-grade teacher putting my desk in the coat closet because she just couldn’t handle all my energy. I didn’t find out until I was 40 that I had ADD. I also did very poorly in math. Math is the reason I kept failing out of college. (This is my fourth time returning to college.) It wasn’t until my counselor suggested I talk to someone in the DSPS that I finally got the help I needed to be more successful. I discovered that I had a problem seeing numbers properly. It’s something akin to math dyslexia. With the help of the DSPS and a class to learn how to overcome my deficit, I finally learned how to do math properly- so much so that I became a tutor. 

Since I’ve been back in college this time around, I have maintained a 3.9 grade point average, and I no longer feel dumb- which I did for many years. I have endured a lot while in the nursing program. I had financial issues in the second semester of the program and unexpectedly moved. That same semester I discovered I had a heart tumor. I took a gap semester off to have open heart surgery, and returned the next semester earning A’s in all of my classes. I only share that so that you know that you can overcome just about anything if you put your mind and heart to it. Good luck to you all!