Sumana Dawadi
Class of 2022
Major
What first drew you into the nursing field in your home country of Nepal?
It was a very remote village of Nepal where I grew up. So many times when I come here and talk to people, the first reaction is, ‘oh my God, how do you grow up without TV, or without electricity?’ So I was like, ‘we never knew it existed so who cared,’ right?
I joined the Red Cross, so people there gave me all the training they could – like first aid, advanced first aid, disaster management team. I was trained in how, during a disaster if a family gets lost, how to reunite them. So I became very active and I loved all of those trainings, and then I started exploring more about my passion of service. And then my mom saw that on me, and she kind of insisted me to go to nursing school.
How did you put your skills into practice during the 2015 Nepal earthquake?
In Nepal, we get a massive earthquake every 80 to 100 years. I knew that one day, there was going to be a huge earthquake. As soon as the earthquake hit, I was…it was crazy. I was in the third floor of my house in Kathmandu, and then basically, I thought…it was so scary, I thought, ‘it’s my last day.’
What I learned from my Red Cross training is to just start from where you are, because you are capable – you know? And apart from that, I was also a registered nurse back home, so I always had that responsibility. That, you know, I’m capable. If I’m able to do it, I have to do it. I checked all of the families in the local area, everyone I could so that I knew everyone was safe.
Why did you come halfway across the world to attend Marymount?
To see the difference between the nursing back home and here, it’s a huge difference. I was an expert in the practical, but I didn’t have deep knowledge in nursing. So I decided to do the nursing from scratch here. I think the Marymount education has really helped me depend on that theoretical knowledge, you know, the kind of evidence behind the practice.
By the end of nursing school, you realize how intense it is. When you go to the hospital, I think you will realize that you are trained for that, not only educationally but also from your life’s perspective.
What do you look back upon most fondly from your time at Marymount?
I met a lot of good friends. I have had friends who were with me since the first semester, and then some really good connections with professors and the people that I met during my clinicals.
When I came to Marymount, like literally, this community…you can see, it feels like home. That’s why I chose Marymount. It felt like a very close community.
