Fueled by opportunity

For Raul Diaz ’28, the transition from his first to second year in the UC College of Nursing involved a leap — and not just an academic one.

“Coming into my sophomore year, I wasn’t able to live in the dorm anymore,” says Diaz. “That meant moving and paying for rent and groceries, so I had to pick up a part-time job to make sure I could make ends meet. That took away from my time during the week to focus on my studies.”

That scenario changed abruptly when Diaz was awarded additional scholarships. The extra funds enabled Diaz, who had been working up to 24 hours a week as a restaurant line cook, to trim his work shifts from three to two while enabling him to spend more time studying. “I believe that helped me get to the GPA that I have now,” says Diaz, who takes pride in his near-perfect 3.9. “It’s eased my mind, knowing that I can focus on studying for the exams rather than worrying about picking up an extra shift to pay my rent.”

Diaz is a bilingual, first-generation college student from Columbus, Ohio. An attentive high school teacher sparked his interest in health sciences during courses in chemistry and anatomy. During a parent-teacher conference, she praised Diaz’s congenial nature and suggested that he explore nursing as a possible career.

Diaz is grateful to the donors who have funded his scholarship. “Nursing school is hard,” he says. 

Today Diaz is fully immersed in the challenging academic work of nursing while getting hands-on experience during clinical rotations. He arrived at his first rotation with butterflies because he had no previous hospital experience, but the professor soon put him at ease. “She told us she wouldn’t embarrass us in front of the patients,” Diaz says. “If you were doing something incorrectly and it needed to be changed, she wouldn’t say anything out loud. She would nudge us or show us the correct way to do it without drawing too much attention. So if I messed up, I didn’t feel embarrassed. It was like, ‘Oh, okay, this is how I’m supposed to do it.’”

Away from the classroom and hospital, Diaz serves as president of Men in Nursing and volunteers with a neighborhood-based branch of the Boys and Girls Club. He is also a self-described “very big sports person” who feels an adrenaline rush when he sees Nippert Stadium filled up on Saturdays. As a member of Rally Cats, he loves giving members of the football team high fives after games. “Win or lose, I’m still proud of the team,” he says. 

After graduation, Diaz would like to work as a traveling nurse, picking up short-term contracts at hospitals around the country. Eventually, he would like to apply to UC’s nurse anesthesia graduate program and become a CRNA (certified registered nurse anesthetist). UC, he says, “is like home for me.”

Meanwhile, his confidence continues to grow. “There are moments when I really feel like I’m a nurse, and I know I can do this,” he says. “This is what I’m going to do. And it gets me excited.”

Featured image at top: Raul Diaz is a student at UC's College of Nursing. Photo/UC Alumni Association.