Like many, Tai Diep鈥檚 road to graduation from the 黑料爆料 College of Nursing was a long one. His story starts with humble beginnings, but through perseverance and adaptations, he finds himself ready to walk across the graduation stage and into the healthcare industry as a Bull Nurse.
Diep is the second of four children, and is the first in his family who decided to apply to college. Diep says his older sister went the entrepreneur route, the second youngest brother decided on trade school, and his youngest brother is taking a path similar to his and is currently studying to be a veterinarian.
鈥淏eing the first person to attend college in your family is definitely intimidating, but it鈥檚 also empowering,鈥� he said. 鈥淵ou learn to do things without a blueprint and are doing things without guidance but that makes every success, no matter how big or small, that much more meaningful.鈥�
Before deciding on going to college to pursue a career in healthcare, Diep said he was being drawn towards it. His interest in nursing sparked in high school during an anatomy class, where he became fascinated by the complexity of the human body and how it functions.
Diep was working hard long before he was admitted to the USF College of Nursing. When he was 16, he started working at Kobe鈥檚 Japanese Steakhouse as a busser.
While a job like that may seem like an insignificant steppingstone to most people, Diep said it was the place where he made some of his biggest life decisions so far. He said people at work helped fill some gaps and connect some dots that people in his family couldn鈥檛 quite fill in terms of knowledge of opportunities.
鈥淚t鈥檚 difficult because you don鈥檛 have a lot of support, guidance, or mentorship within your close family. So you look for it in outside spaces. Work, school, or anybody that you meet,鈥� Diep said. 鈥淲orking at Kobe鈥檚, I met a lot of people my age and people who were older and I was able to take away from their experiences. Choosing healthcare, college, and nursing was an influence from one of my peers there.鈥�
Now with a goal in mind, Diep said that he began taking the necessary pre-requisite courses to apply to the USF College of Nursing. He kept working and taking care of his family at this time.
However, he quickly realized that his 3.6 GPA wasn鈥檛 going to compete as well against the other applicants in the program. He didn鈥檛 get accepted.
鈥淔acing rejection like that was very much a big shock,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 had everything planned to go to nursing school at this time. My next thought was, 鈥榃here do I go from here? How do I adjust? How do I get back on track?鈥�"
Once again, Diep brought these thoughts back to Kobe鈥檚 and shared them with his co-workers and confidants. A different colleague of his presented him with another path toward Diep鈥檚 goals; joining the military, becoming a combat medic, and using those skills to boost his resume to get into the nursing program.
With new advice, Diep got to work on this new plan. He joined the National Guard and became a combat medic. This added several skills to his repertoire that would eventually help him be admitted to the College of Nursing through the VCARE program, which is designed to help veterans enter the field of nursing with their military experience taken into account in the admissions process.
Diep said the military started as a pathway to his ultimate goal of becoming a nurse, but it ended up becoming a part of his identity. He recalls being activated to help during recent hurricane seasons and how those moments confirmed that he chose the right path for himself.
鈥淏eing the main medic with the group of soldiers there doing search and rescue missions, we had to rescue a lot of civilians trapped in their houses who didn鈥檛 evacuate in time. My job was to provide first aid care at the site of rescue,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 saw communities going through despair, facing challenges they hadn鈥檛 before. Being able to be someone who supported and cared for them tied into how I want to do this. I want to care for my community.鈥�
Diep said the skills and values he learned in the military were vastly built upon during his time in the USF College of Nursing. With more knowledge, skills, and experience, he had the opportunity to go through the program with fellow veterans and eventually became a leader in student organizations. He feels confident in his path moving forward with graduation around the corner.
鈥淚鈥檓 ready to go out and be the change that my community needs, and be involved in everything I can be involved in because the College of Nursing prepared me so well. I know I can take my experiences anywhere in the world and feel like the program gave me an advantage.鈥�
Tai Diep
Diep said after he graduates he wants to pursue the Pediatric Nurse Practitioner program at USF. He wants to work in traumatic pediatric health care before he eventually open his own practice in that field. He said he wants to use his education to help children around the world have better access and treatment for their care.