Hi! My name is Madi Shoemaker and I grew up in Heath, OH which is right by the OSU-N campus so I was able to take a few OSU classes in high school before coming to campus my freshman year. I come from a household of a single mom who raised me and my three younger siblings (two brothers and a sister). I am a first-generation college student in my family so coming to campus and enrolling in a hard major on top of not really knowing how to go about college life was difficult at first, but I have loved every minute of my experience so far.
Coming from a single-income household I have to pay for everything on my own now, so I currently work about 30 hrs/week between two serving jobs at Hangover Easy and Condado Tacos. I am also involved in my sorority, Alpha Xi Delta, where I held a director position this past year. Finding a good time-management schedule between work and school has been my hardest challenge this year, as I am usually working on the days that I do not have class. However, I have been trying to be proactive about my organization skills and pre-planning my time management for the week so I do not get behind in any of my classes. So far it has worked well, but I just hope I can continue the trend with the workload this semester requires.
I am currently a junior enrolled in the nursing program with a minor in social psychology and personality. I have always wanted to go into the nursing profession, but I have also always had a love and interest in the psychology field! I am grateful I am able to study both of these subjects and possibly use both of them in my profession someday. My friends and family have always thought it was unique why I decided to go into nursing, as nobody in my family works in the healthcare field at all. However, I have always had nursing as my career choice since I was a freshman in high school. I loved learning about the human body and how everything works and being able to care for patients and really make a difference in the community that you lived in has always been an important aspect in my life. I was also attracted to the profession for the various different jobs you can have within the field of nursing and how you are able to go literally anywhere in the world and be able to do your job. I have always been a person that loves to travel and hated the thought of having to be in the same place for a long amount of time so having this flexibility within the nursing field was a huge bonus.
My interests moving forward with nursing would be to get my degree from Ohio State, stay in Columbus and work for a year or two, then travel nurse for two years preferably in California or on the east coast somewhere so I can experience the “beach life.” I then want to get my master’s degree to become a Critical Care Nurse Practitioner. I love the energy and momentum an ER would bring and I have never been one to want to do the same thing day in and day out, so I still believe this would be the best placement for me. I have thought about doing OB, but I haven’t had any exposure to that field yet and obviously will need to go through the rest of this program before I can find out what I really love.
My interests in life are currently living a healthier lifestyle more holistically (9 dimensions) and to do something for myself every day that will help further my future self. I have also been reading a lot of motivational and “life-coaching” books when I have the free time. I have found that I like to save my money to go to concerts and music festivals more than going out to eat everyday or going shopping a lot, so I now attend some type of concert every 1-2 months as a self-care gift for myself to enjoy the artists that I love with my best friends. I love to take as many vacations as I can to a new part of the world with various people, and I am planning on one day in the next few years to take a little weekend trip by myself to really get in touch with my thoughts and my goals for the future.