“I’m different. That’s what I feel. But I always find a way to make it to my target. It might take time, but I get it.”
Suddhata KC is fired up. Her eyes light up and as she talks about her journey in nursing, her hands accentuating her talking points, and you know this is someone you want in the healthcare industry.
The international student from Nepal was almost ready to change her major, though. When she came to the US in 2020 to study at St. Cloud State, she started classes for her bachelor’s in nursing, one of which was anatomy and physiology II. But, after struggling online with a dense textbook and not much connection from her professor, KC didn’t get the grade she needed.
So, she decided to take Jen Evens’ class at SCTCC to bring her grade up – the difference was night and day.
Along with the textbook, Evens applied practical, hands-on techniques like drawing a muscle group and labelling it.
“The sensory activities like that – you remember faster,” explained KC. She started hand-writing notes from her classes every night, and that helped too. She passed the class with the grade she needed, but the stress of taking classes at St. Cloud State and working was taking a toll on her.
It got to the point where KC was thinking about changing her major to biochemistry even though becoming a nurse was her dream. After watching her friend give up on her major, she knew she couldn’t let her dream go. Remembering her class at SCTCC, she decided to chat with Eric Bergman, the International Student Admissions contact. His advice? Take it a little bit at a time.
This fall, she transferred completely to SCTCC to work on her pre-requisites for applying to the Associate Degree in Nursing LPN to ADN mobility program this spring. While she has a lot of the pre-reqs completed, KC is taking additional classes to help her application and skills she’ll need.
Her path to where she is now is due to understanding her learning style.
“It is so hard for me to read and try to remember it. I remember it for 30 minutes, then boom,” KC put her hand to her head and fluttered her fingers to show it just floats out of her head. “Everybody can get to where they want to be as long as they’re learning and don’t give up. If you have a destination and one way is not working, there is always another way.”
Traditionally, there are four kinds of learning styles: visual, auditory, read/write, and kinesthetic. Many people actually learn best with a combination of learning, so taking classes that incorporate different ways of learning could be helpful, as it was for KC.
There are also different ways of looking at learning, including focusing on strengths and cultivating a growth mindset. If you aren't sure how learning styles be accommodated in your classes, you can always check out Center for Academic Success for help exploring what works best for you and incorporating it into your studying and classwork. Accessibility Services can also help you if you encounter barriers to learning. Like KC pointed out, everyone is different in their own way.
She’s got future plans, of course, but piecing it out in chunks gives her some breathing room. Being able to chase her dream on her terms has made her more motivated, and she’s ready to see what the future brings – and how she’ll get there.
“Don’t change the destination. Change the way.”