I was ecstatic. The wait was over. It was the spring semester of my sophomore year, and after receiving the acceptance letter, I was ready to start my first semester of nursing school. I marked the days off in my calendar that Christmas break with anticipation for what was coming. That Friday before the semester started, I sat with another fifty-nine new nursing students for a morning of nursing orientation.

Since it was the first week of January, it was cold and dark outside, the windowpanes lined with frost, but not even the grayest weather could have given me a hint of the gloom I was about to experience. Toward the end of the nursing orientation, we touched on clinical rotations.

The professor in charge gave us a rundown of the legal process we had to complete to be able to attend our clinical rotations. I had to get a background check, and for that, I needed a social security number.

But I didn’t have one

When my family and I moved to Texas five years before that, we moved as missionaries. My type of visa didn’t grant a social security number. That hadn’t been a problem until now.

Early on Monday, I went to the background check place and confirmed that I couldn’t do it without a social security number. So, I headed to the nursing department to speak with the nursing chair and explain my situation. The nursing program started every year in the spring semester only, and I couldn’t afford to wait a whole year while I went through a change of status, which was my only option. I prayed, and I pleaded. However, there was not much she could do; rules were rules.

How awful! after so much academic dedication and financial effort, I was out of the nursing program for a reason beyond my control. I felt angry, sad, and frustrated. Storming into another building on campus, I went into the bathroom and cried. I said: God, how is this fair? Where will I get the money to afford an extra year of tuition? God, what am I supposed to do? And all I heard was silence. After a while, I dried my tears and went home feeling defeated.

At this point, I had to make a choice…

(to be continued)