Marie Antoinette Pangan
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Slide - 50 Years, 50 Voices - Marie Antoinette Pangan I'm Marie Antoinette Pangan, and I'm a former student from the faculty of nursing Slide - Temporary Foreign Worker - 00:10 So I was one of the first Filipino people who worked at the fish plants. We were there in 2010. They called us like the first batch of Filipino workers. It was a tough job, it was cold but then the locals were so nice, I remember, you know, having my first winter wearing 5 layers of clothes, it was cold, it was so different but yeah, as I've said, locals and communities were very supportive back then. Slide - Enrolling at UPEI - 00:46 In 2010, I came in as temporary foreign worker at the western part of PEI and then back then I’m always dreamed of becoming a student of University of Prince Edward Island but then I wasn't permanent resident so I have to wait to process for my paper and then back in 2014, when I get my permanent residency I tried to enroll at the University of Prince Edward Island and I got lucky to be able to offer a seat at the Nursing Program, so it was very hard because I was away from school for 15 years but because of you know, the Faculty of Nursing, the Library staff and even the Writing Center they are so supportive with me and you know with the other students so I think that's one of my good memories from the UPEI. Slide - Motivation - 01:51 One of the biggest motivations that I had, is like to be able to have like a stable job since I came as a temporary foreign worker, so I'm not always sure when I will be going home, when my contract will end so that was my biggest motivation and also to be able to succeed at UPEI, I did a lot of things like: I applied for lots of scholarships, so that helped me a lot for my tuition fees and school expenses. Slide - Supports - 02:31 Beside UPEI, the Filipino community, my friends and family. I am so grateful and blessed that they were always there to support me, to encourage me to be able to tell me "You can do it"; to be able for me to feel that they were just there anytime I needed help, maybe not with my studies but moral support and you know emotional support and even financial support, so I'm very grateful to have that support from friends and family. I just wanted to thank UPEI and its Faculty members for being so supportive, especially with students like me, like the mature students or the international students, UPEI is doing really great with... making students from all over the place belong. Slide - Improvement - 03:32 I was so bad at writing, I believed I’m always seek help from the Library or from the Writing Center and the most precious moments I had is, I was awarded as one of the McLauchlan Prizes for Effective Writing, so I think that's one of my successful and Wow moments because I know within myself that I improved from day one of being a student of UPEI, to, up to the fourth year of my studying. Slide - Mature Student - 04:14 As a mature student is not easy for me, especially English is not my first language but we had like a great Filipino community in the Island, not just Filipino community but you know friends out there, locals who were always encouraging me to keep going and also as I've said, the UPEI Faculty of Nursing, the Library and the Writing Center, and even the Office from the Scholarships, they helped me so much. Slide - Being Valedictorian - 04:56 Some of the students as well as some of the faculties were telling me "You have to apply" 'cause I think people were, will be amazed, and will be inspired to hear your stories being a temporary foreign worker and then going back to UPEI and then now becoming a nurse. I was so nervous, I actually practiced my speech like a month before the graduation but then I think it's easier because I’m speaking from my heart, from my experience, and I wanted the people or the students to know that, you know, just keep on dreaming, I know it's not gonna be an easy way but if you have the determination, your goal and perseverance and then you can get what you want. Slide - Final Thoughts - 05:56 My last few months from UPEI, honestly I felt so sad because you know these became part of my every day routine, this is my home so I felt sad that I had to go, that I had to move on, and you know step up and go to outside world of the UPEI but then it felt really good that because I feel, I feel like UPEI is always within me, because you know, they prepared me to be there, to be in the outside world as a nurse or you know as a nursing student so being a student of UPEI is really one of my successful moments I can say.