Destination: Parkland Hospital

Since she was five years old, Lizbeth O. knew she wanted to help people. “My mother was selfless in her job and with everyone in the family. It helped me realize what I wanted to do,” Lizbeth said when asked about her plans for the future. Lizbeth wanted to be in the medical field where she felt she could help people the most. When she entered high school, she was prepared to follow a path that would lead her to be an emergency physician.

After learning about NAF Academy of Health Sciences, Lizbeth felt differently about the career choice she wanted to follow. She enrolled in Bryan Adams High School Academy of Health Sciences with hopes that NAF could help her figure out what she wanted to do in the medical field.

Lizbeth landed an 8-week internship at Baylor Scott & White Former Doctor’s Hospital as a pharmacy technician. Her responsibilities included delivering medicine throughout the hospital, watching nurses insert IVs and learning about the functions of other departments. Lizbeth eventually was given the opportunity to make medicines and do IV insertions on her own. She did so well in her internship that the hospital offered a part-time job in the pharmacy.

Lizbeth appreciates the rare chance she has gained from being a NAF student, “It really teaches you about yourself. I didn’t know any of my weaknesses before I went into the interview. It helped me grow as a person.” She’s even pushing her two siblings interested in computer sciences to enroll in a NAF Academy of Information Technology. As Lizbeth finishes high school, she is applying to colleges with the new plan to become a physician’s assistant.

Today, Lizbeth has her pharmacy certification and is in her first year of college. She credits her success thus far to her father. “I mostly want to thank my father. He is really the one that has pushed me to get my certification. Just seeing him going through the process of getting his journeyman’s license and now he’s getting his masters. It inspired me to do well, to get the certification, and then my degree from college,” Lizbeth said. As Lizbeth works towards a bachelor’s degree in nursing at El Centro College, she hopes to find a job opportunity at Parkland Hospital, the hospital she’s always dreamed of working at.