Ailyn Maung

Ethnics 21
Hnou Lee
November 21st, 2022

Online Session - Week 11: Thematic Reflection 4

During the ages 11-16, I never really had the thought of going to college, or I never
believed I would live to the time that I would actually have to or want to attend college. Since, it
wasn’t really an expectation of mine, I never tried thinking outside of what truly interested me
and make a career out of it. Majority of the women in my family are nurses, so as a natural
instinct, and not knowing what I am truly interested in, I chose nursing as the career path I
wanted to take. Now, I am a current student at Sacramento State, majoring in Health Science to
in hopes one day apply to nursing school and become a nurse. So far, being a first year student is
still a very big adjustment. I would say my goals are to attend my classes, succeed and pass
them, graduate, and make long, life-time genuine connections along my journey here at
Sacramento State. Although, I do truly hope to find out what it is I really want to do with my life
and find what career might actually interest me and make me happy/ With being a Health
Science major, and not necessarily knowing what actually interests me, I will say I am hesitant
with my chosen major. Since the majority of my family are nurses, or are in the medical field in
general, I am held to the standard that I will also pursue a career in the medical field. It is also a
known stero-type for majority Asian-American first generation children to fulfill their parents
wishes when they want their children to become a doctor. Since I never explored my interests as
a kid, I am stuck in a decision on if I want to explore the different career choices, or just stay on
track to becoming a nurse. I do see myself becoming a nurse in the future, and I do think it is a
career that suits me, but I am unsure if that is because I haven’t explored the other possibilities,
because I don’t want to attend school for 6+ years, or I am just set on nursing. My birthday is
November 12, 2004, meaning I just turned 18 and I am still very young. I do not think it is
necessary for me to be very set on a career choice, but my mindset is that I like to be certain, I
like to be set, so that being said, I am set on a nursing career until proven otherwise. For my
contemporary issues, I have chosen to focus on abortion rights, drug addiction, and health
insurance in the United States. I do believe that these contemporary issues are very relevant to
the medical field and the career I have choosen. With these contemporary issues, I do also
believe that they do tie into my passions, and values for hospitality and the rights to healthcare.
In my own beliefs, I believe that healthcare is something that should not be thought of as a
privilege but as something that is autmomatically given to the people. Along with my own
personal values, I was always raised to have a big heart and to care for others that could not care
for themselves, and to do the best I can to be there physically and emotionally for those in need.
Going back to my contemporary issues, I also do think that drug addiction, abortion rights, and
health insurance all tie into my personal life. For instance, my father was a drug addict when I
was very small and that impacted very heavily on the relationship I had with my dad, with
abortion rights, my mom would get pregnant frequently, and there are times where my mom was
judged because of the actions she took, knowing she was not financially capable to have
anymore children, and health insurance, I can understand now that I am older how hard it is to
achieve reasonably priced health insurance not only for yourself, but for your family as well.
Nursing is the career I am set with, but I do know that Sacramento State carries the resources like
the career fair, career center, and many other programs on campus have provided connections
with jobs/careers to pursue after college. I definitely am set on nursing for the moment, but I
know for sure where to go when I begin to really question if nursing is something I do really
want. I also do know that my Ethnics 21 professor has provided great tools on what to do with
my career and even journey here at Sac State. (Lacey & Cosby - Job Outlook, Carter - Outlooks
and Insights, Marcus & McVey - Using the Decision Making Process, and Tunstead - Major
Decisions.)