Dallas Heal A Heart

My name is Nikita Chapagain, I am a senior at Frisco Centennial High School. My parents are first immigrants from Nepal, and I have been raised in the US my whole life; raised in a mix of two cultures. My parents gave up too much when they left Nepal to give me a better life. Knowing the oppression they left in Nepal and experiencing some discrimination here is what pushed me to what I want to be; I want to become a surgeon. I used the resources offered at Frisco ISD to expose myself into the medical field. I was certified as a Certified Nurse Assistant my junior year of high school, and upon completion of my senior year will graduate with my EKG technician license as well as a Pharmacy technician license. All this time, I participated in clubs that helped me meet other like-minded people and learned to maintain good relationships with close friends and teachers. I also discovered that I loved learning about the cardiovascular system. Along with my hospital experience, I worked extra hard to gain more time in the Operation Room my senior year. Through my clinical rotation class, I have had the opportunity of shadowing Dr. Joseph Forbess, Professor and Chief Division of Pediatric Cardiothoracic Surgery at Children’s Medical Center of Dallas, this year. Through my experience with Dr. Forbess, I have spent a lot of time in surgeries lasting over 8 hours without any breaks, learned many rare congenital heart diseases, and watched intensive open- heart procedures. It was through Dr. Forbess that I was introduced to this foundation, and because of my roots and home country that I would like to give back to Nepal.