Andrea Corona is a sophomore working towards her bachelor of science while majoring in nursing at West Texas A&M University. Corona is a local from Amarillo, Texas, and is working tirelessly toward her goal of helping others during hard times.

Corona’s passion for nursing began at a young age once she realized she was an extrovert. As an outgoing person, Corona knew she wanted to have a career that allowed her to meet others and socialize while having a purpose in helping others.

“I want to be a certified registered nurse anesthetist,” Corona said. “I just want to help others, comfort them during hard times, show them how to live a healthier life and be the person they can rely on.”

Nurses are indispensable in safeguarding public health. There are many specific types of nurses, each playing a significant part in healthcare. Certified registered nurse anesthetists (CRNA) are professionals specifically trained in providing anesthesia-related care to patients, whether it’s before, during, or after surgery. CRNAs can work in all types of medical settings, whether with surgeons, podiatrists, dentists and many others.

“My favorite part of studying nursing is definitely just learning different ways on how to help people,” Corona said. “You get to see how everything just sort of connects together, which is really cool, but my least favorite part of it is how hard the classes can be. That’s the honest truth. The classes can be really hard and tiring, but I remember that it’ll be worth it.”

Nursing majors have to complete a series of prerequisites in natural,physical and behavioral sciences. These courses typically are chemistry, biology, anatomy and physiology and psychology. On top of those difficult courses, they must complete several hours of clinical training they learn in their nursing classes. Pre-nursing students do tireless work to make it into a nursing program that is notoriously difficult to be accepted into. Fortunately, WT’s nursing program ensures students get into a nursing program.

“I came to WT because my brother went here,” Corona said. “I’ve always loved the beauty of our campus and grew up pretty close to here. Canyon has always been a backyard to my hometown, so I knew this was the school to choose.”

Attending WT has allowed Corona to be close to home and her loved ones. She utilizes the campus resources since she knows they are helpful for a successful future.

“My favorite thing about WT is the rodeo team,” Corona said. “Rodeo is something I love to do and all the kids apart of the rodeo team are cool and a lot of fun to be around. We all have similar interests and they’ve become some of my greatest friends here.”

When Corona has free time, she enjoys rope. Roping is the act of catching or securing cattle or horses with a rope. She has a roping dummy that helps her practice improving her skills and techniques.

Corona believes you’ll get everything you want as long as you put in the effort.

“The effort you put in is what you’ll get out,” Corona said. “Whatever you put in is what your outcome will be, so try to do well because it’ll benefit you.”