Emma Blankenship graduated from Marco Island Academy in 2021, part of the final class to graduate before the new building on campus was completed. She is currently a sophomore at Florida State University and recently got accepted into their nursing program. FSU’s nursing program is number 1 in the state of Florida, making it very competitive to get into. She will be starting this program in the Fall.

Reflecting back on her time living on Marco Island, she finds herself missing home. While she very much enjoys her life up at FSU, she misses living only a few minutes away from the beach. 

College has helped Emma improve her time management skills. Nursing is a very intensive and demanding major, so she has dealt with the challenge of managing her school work and social life. Also, since nursing is a STEM major, research in the sciences are continuously taking place, causing information to be constantly reevaluated and updated. She is very thankful for her friends who push her in her academics to make her succeed.

If Emma could give advice to current high school students, she would tell them to try new things. Throughout her time in high school, she was conflicted about what she wanted to do with her future. While she took all of the career quizzes, she never was given any result in healthcare, so she never pictured herself in that field. She also did not enjoy science classes as much as other subjects, such as math. But, her Grandmother was a nurse, so she grew up hearing stories from her about that profession. This is where her interest started to grow. After she got accepted into FSU, she decided to just go for it and she changed her major to pre-nursing. She ended up being very skilled in the science classes that accompany getting this degree. Emma would have never found her calling if she did not make that jump to try something new.

Emma is on track to graduate a semester early, which will give her a jump start on her career goals. After graduating, she plans to work as a nurse at a hospital for 2 or 3 years, then she wishes to eventually get her traveling license. This would allow her to practice nursing while exploring new locations every couple of months, adding an exciting element to her future career.