An Interview with Former Thunderbird, Dilcia Diaz

Dilcia Diaz,  graduate of New Mexico Junior College (NMJC), recently spoke with us about where she's landed after graduating from our RN program.

Currently, she works at a local hospital as a Team-Lead in Labor and Delivery. Her position requires her supervision of the nurses in that area, as well as doing daily rotation assignments and training for new hires. She says her favorite part of the job is that they “float” nurses between departments, so everyone gets to experience all areas of the hospital. 

"As team lead I do daily assignments, I do our co-team and make sure everybody is well taken care of. I also do training for the newcomers."

Dilcia was raised in Texas and first came to NMJC as a part-time Cosmetology instructor. 

“I really liked how they (NMJC) were a small college and [were] able to interact with their students. [...] I had started my nursing career prior to coming to the Junior College, so I said ‘I want to finish.’ I thought it was a pretty easy transition to get all of my prerequisites, so I decided to do it.”

After starting the program in 2015, Dilcia was able to graduate in 2017 with her Associate of Applied Science in Nursing. While she hasn’t completed her Bachelor’s degree to date, it’s still a goal for her future. 

Thinking back about the ways NMJC prepared her in education, she remembers, “They definitely prepared us very well for our exams, especially the state-board exam, and that's something I want to give them a lot of credit for. We worked very hard to prepare for an exam that would change our whole life. [The professors] were always there, we had our advisors who helped us. If we were struggling, they were there to help us, pick us up through it. I was not the best test taker, so I had to be there with my advisor who was helping me do extra studying and giving tips on how to study. I liked how they were [able to be] one-on-one with us.”

Dilcia has many fond memories of her time at the Junior College. One of the things she remembers most are the long hours of studying.  

“[I remember] studying with my friends. The funny stories we would have to talk about to remember and whatever we were learning at the time.”

To students considering becoming a part of our campus community, she would say “I would just always encourage them to continue their education. You do not have to be a specific age. It is very easy to get in, there are always people there to help you at NMJC.”