Anna Dikstein

Anna.dikstein@gmail.com

Life is a process that challenges us to respond, grow and change. Select an experience or
event that has challenged you this past year and describe its impact on you.

I stood in a cold hollow corridor. I could not help but think that this was not going
to be a pleasant experience. Today’s performance was in a nursing home. Having danced
since I could barely walk, I had performed weekly in various places, from street festivals,
to birthday parties. At the time, I did not see the service I was providing. I just wanted to
get it over with and exit this home that felt depressing to me. As my resilient dance
teacher yelled out commands of how to direct ourselves around a half-empty lunchroom,
I prayed that this day would go faster. The music started. Instantly, a smile hit my face; it
appeared out of a habit. Much to my astonishment, when I looked out into the crowd, I
saw the elders smiling back with faces of joy.
This was my first experience with a nursing home. Since then, I started to feel a
pull. I wanted to feel again what I felt on stage, that pleasant surprise of performing this
good service. I felt so fulfilled bringing smiles to the faces of the elderly that I felt foolish
calling the nursing home “depressing.” That day, I had the idea to start to volunteer at the
Park Terrace Rehabilitation and Nursing Center. Having spent a day with vivacious
seniors I welcomed the opportunity to listen to their stories, to join them in activities, and
to surround myself with their wise counsel. I have continued volunteering until this day.
Extending my reach, I was able to take the responsibility and set up various
activities for the elders. I conducted a dance class for groups of eager women, I played
bingo with larger groups, I participated in karaoke nights, and I took walks with many
beloved sages. Doing all of this brought a new passion into my life. I now find myself
with new humanitarian ideals that I was missing before.
On my volunteer days, I worked with many dementia and Alzheimer’s patients.
At first, it disheartened me to see people dealing with such problems. It was
overwhelming to see healthy individuals forget what they were doing and, in extreme
cases, forget where they were. Some patients were crippled physically as well. When I
saw all of this, I knew I wanted to help them. There had to be a way. I started to see the
impact that doctors and nurses had on the patients. Through my observations, I witnessed
the brightness simple human connections could bring to people, no matter how the
depressing the setting may seem to the unknowing eye. A simple smile or a touch of the
hand instantly accomplished the job of spreading a feeling of merriment even to patients
who do not appear to be cognizant of the world around them. I saw nurses enter the
rooms to literally make their patients’ days; I saw nurses identify with even the most
struggling patients and bring them joy.
Soon I realized this is exactly what I want to do. I want to bring joy into other
people’s lives and more importantly, I want to help struggling elders and needy people
become better. In difficult situations with screaming Alzheimer’s patients, I learned the
power of hard work. It was because I refused to give up in the most stressful situations
that I truly was able to help someone. It is this hard work that will shape my future at
Binghamton University. I know I have the abilities to work to get through any situation. I
also know that I want to be a nurse in the future; I want to bring caring and joy into the
lives of all people, not just the elders of the Park Terrace Nursing Center.
Through perseverance, I was able to connect with the elders of the nursing home.
As I led a different life, it was difficult for me to always connect with struggling patients.
However, my experiences changed the person I am today. I hope to continue to change
for the better both in Binghamton University and in my professional life. Aside from
learning the rewards of hard work, I learned to release my fears. Initially with each
activity with the elders, I feared I would hurt them or that I would not be able to
communicate with them. Soon I learned there was nothing to fear, for George, a lively
old man told me, “It won’t bite, we have no teeth.” It was only with actions, not with
hesitation and fears that the nurses and doctors helped as many people as they could. I
strive to continue to release my fears to help the people around me.
Now, a true smile appears out of habit whenever I walk into the Park Terrace
Rehabilitation and Nursing Center. I smile because I feel fulfilled doing something I
know I will be doing for the rest of my life. My volunteer experience has been a
transformative experience. It has made me a more focused and goal oriented individual
ready for the rigors of college and the challenges of a health care profession.

Please include a personal statement (1000 words or less) explaining your interest in the
nursing profession and health care. Include how acceptance to the Decker School of
Nursing will assist you in reaching your professional goals. You may also wish to write
about (1) a person who, or an event that, has vitally affected your thinking; or (2) specific
benefits, beyond those related to employment, that you expect to gain from your higher
education.

As I complete all of my extra curricular activities and work through my

experiences, I have discovered a force driving me. This force is not selfish, nor greedy; it
is the force of humanism. As I step into work at Rabinowitz Pharmacy or volunteering at
the Park Terrace Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, I find the will I have to help others
around me shine through. I do not complete my tasks lethargically; I strive to excel while
the people prosper from how I help them. Knowing this about my personality sparked an
interest in health care careers. As I did research I found that nursing is exactly where I
would find the fulfillment my ambitions required.
There have been many small events in my life that made me the person I am
today. In trying to accomplish as much as I can, I have witnessed a broad spectrum of
human interactions and emotions. I have witness numerous angry people walk into the
pharmacy at which I work. As the pharmacist treats them with care and attention, I
witnessed their mood change; they left satisfied. I have also walked into rooms of
disgruntled elders to start an activity with them; through compassion and proper
interaction I have been successful in engaging even the most unwilling elder into an
activity; he would leave in a spirit of merriment. Both the pharmacist and myself in the
nursing home employed personal responsibility, self-awareness, caring, and compassion
for the people around us to truly have an effect of them.
 In witnessing and experiencing this, my thinking was completely rearranged. For
the better, my personality underwent a makeover. I was no longer the spoiled or selfish
individual that I see when I look back. I found myself seeing the essential dignity and
worth of every person, family, and community. I wanted to start helping my friends; I
wanted them to reach their full potential. I became an active leader in school activities
handling everything from planning events, to management of groups and improvements
that can be made. All of this led into my interest in nursing. While volunteering at the
nursing home, I saw how the nurses accomplished many of the tasks I sought out to
accomplish. They were able to use their knowledge of medical theories and research to
help their patients become healthy and functioning at their maximum levels. They not
only treated their patients physically, but they also understood the social, emotional,
intellectual, and spiritual aspects of their condition and cared for them; in that I saw the
dual side of nursing. I became inspired to do the same, to not only care for patients
physically, but also connect with them and help them in any way possible.
Acceptance into the Decker School of Nursing will undoubtedly allow me to
reach my goals. I cannot wait to discover and utilize all the information I will be taught
about the nursing profession and about the human condition. The Decker School of
Nursing provides an essential background in social sciences as well as medical theories
and research. I will be educated in the dynamic interaction between internal and external
environments of people and their communities. To me, this means I will be able to see
how people affect one another. I will also learn how my interactions will maximize the
health of others and the community. I want to help improve the quality of life of others
and a higher education in nursing is the path I see to achieve my goals.
Ultimately, I plan to receive a masters and PhD in nursing. Being accepted into
the Decker School of Nursing will bring fuel to my goal. I know there will be a light at
the end of my path into a fulfilling career. I want to improve health care, influence health
policy, and promote development into the profession. My goal is to maximize my output
to help everyone that I can around me. Through the attributes of hard work, dedication,
and compassion, I will bring all I can to my actions in the Decker School of Nursing.

How acceptance will assist me in reach my goals- benefits of employment-gain from

higher edication

Since its establishment in 1969, the Decker School of Nursing has earned an enviable
reputation among baccalaureate, masters’ and doctoral nursing programs in the State of
New York, the nation and other countries. The Decker School offers students the highest
quality academic preparation for professional nursing.

The undergraduate program prepares graduates for generalist practice at the baccalaureate
level through program options leading to the Bachelor of Science degree with a major in
nursing. Baccalaureate graduates are prepared to apply theory and research from
physical, behavioral, and nursing science to the practice of nursing in health promotion,
risk reduction, and disease prevention and management across the life span.
The Decker School prides itself on both the quality and the quantity of its clinical
practice experiences that are seen as the foundation for graduates’ success in professional
practice. Prior to graduating, students complete hundreds of hours of off-site clinical
rotation experiences in acute care and community settings as part of course work.
Furthermore, the Decker School also houses an Innovative Practice Center. The
laboratory space and equipment significantly expanded in 2005 with a $500,000 gift from
the Dr. G. Clifford and Florence B. Decker Foundation. The center is the home to a
family of human patient simulators including five Vital Sims, two Sim Men and one Sim
Baby. The Center has become an integral component of the education each student
experiences at the Decker School of Nursing.

The undergraduate and graduate nursing programs are accredited by the Commission on
Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE). Upon completion of the program, students are
eligible to sit for the NCLEX-RN professional licensure examination.

The philosophy of the Decker School of Nursing emphasizes the search for meaning,
freedom of choice, integrity, personal responsibility, self-awareness, caring, and
compassion for self and others. The Faculty is in accord with the stated mission of
Binghamton University, a premier public institution, that is ". . . dedicated to enriching
the lives of people in the region, nation, and world through discovery and education and
to being enriched by its engagement in those communities."

The focus of nursing is on human systems that consist of individuals, families, and
communities, each existing interdependently with their environments. These systems
experience ever-changing and complex states of health and require nursing care at
various times along the life cycle. Nursing promotes self-actualization through health
promotion, prevention of disease, restoration of health, and a peaceful and dignified
death.

The Faculty believes in the essential dignity and worth of every person, family, and
community as a unique and dynamic system. Human systems have aspects that are
physical, social, emotional, intellectual, and spiritual in nature, culminating in a greater
whole. The Faculty views all human systems as evolving, on a purposeful journey
through the wide dimensions of human experience.

The Faculty believes that human systems are ultimately responsible for their own growth,
values, and search for fulfillment, while recognizing that self-actualization takes place in
relationship with other human systems and the broader ecosystem. To this extent human
systems interact with society at large and become stewards of their environment.

People exercise freedom of choice in determining and attaining their goals without
interfering with the freedom and well-being of others. The Faculty values the promotion
of social justice, whereby the necessary resources for growth, development, and
actualization are available to all people and communities.
Health is a complex phenomenon characterized by dynamic interaction between the
internal and external environments of every human system. Human systems experience
health, illness, and death in unique and varying ways. The Faculty associates good health
with the harmonious balance among all aspects of the human system throughout the
continuum of life. Any human system functioning at a high level of health will also be
maximizing that system's creative potential. Groups such as families, communities, and
societies follow a similar pattern with the reflection of relationships, capacity for growth,
respect for diversity, and balance needed for optimal health. The health of rural
populations is of special interest to the students and Faculty of the DSON, whether caring
for a rural client in an urban system or influencing the community or health care systems
of rural areas.

The Faculty views nursing as an art and a science actuated by humanistic values.
Nursing, as a science, is grounded in knowledge, generated through discovery, and
implemented in evidence-based practice. Nursing, as an art, seeks to synthesize scientific,
aesthetic and self-knowledge in providing direct care that promotes health, prevents
illness, and maximizes the quality of life.

The health of human systems is nursing's greatest concern. Nurses respect the principles
of social justice; realizing health care resources in some environments are limited and
need to be distributed fairly. To provide comprehensive health care, nursing must be
cognizant of health values, beliefs, and perceptions of human systems and their effect on
well-being in the context of complex environments and interdisciplinary collaboration.

Caring, trust, compassion and mutual respect are fundamental to the nurse-client
relationship. The nurse incorporates knowledge and self-awareness in the development of
a therapeutic approach. Nursing has its own knowledge built on theory and discovery,
and shares a knowledge base with other disciplines to generate and utilize the best
evidence for effective care.

Within professional nursing there are multiple levels of practice. The nurse generalist,
prepared at the baccalaureate level, applies theory and research from the physical,
behavioral, and nursing sciences to the practice of nursing. The baccalaureate-prepared
nurse becomes an intelligent consumer of research, uses research-based evidence to
support clinical practice, and participates collaboratively to manage comprehensive
health services for a diverse and multicultural population. Baccalaureate-prepared nurses
demonstrate beginning leadership and management skills in the coordination of resources
for client systems within a value system consistent with professional nursing. The nurse
specialist prepared at the graduate level solves complex client care problems through a
multiplicity of roles using theoretically driven strategies of advanced nursing practice.
The master's-prepared nurse participates in research, uses evidence-based practice,
assumes a leadership role in the planning, management, and improvement of health care,
influences health policy, and promotes the continuing development of nursing as a
profession. The terminal degree in nursing is at the doctoral level. The PhD graduate
from the DSON is actively engaged in designing original research to generate and test
theory to enhance rural nursing practice, and actively engages in the development of
policy to enhance the health of rural populations. Together the nurse generalist and nurse
specialist collaborate to advance the profession of nursing.

Nursing education is achieved through the active participation in discovery, practice and
scholarship. The Faculty views education as a continuous lifelong process of becoming,
aimed at the development of intellectual, aesthetic and professional interests that advance
each learner towards personal and professional goals. The essence of learning and growth
for both teacher and learner is the Faculty-student relationship. The Faculty prepare
culturally, ethnically, and racially diverse nurses to strengthen the professions ability to
meet the needs all people. The Faculty recognizes and supports the need for international
collaboration and experiences for both students and Faculty, as we seek to generate a
global vision in relation to health and nursing.