Katrina Roxas, a West Virginia University School of Nursing student on the Keyser campus, says she hopes to make an impact on patients’ lives, especially the most critical patients.
Roxas, a senior in her program, is from Falling Waters, West Virginia, but is originally from the Philippines. Roxas was accepted into the program in fall 2019.
“I wanted to go into nursing school because I really enjoy helping people,” Roxas said. “I always tend to see myself putting other people’s needs above my own, so my mom suggested to try nursing. Once I got into the program and started my journey as a nursing student, though it was hard, I enjoyed learning about it and applying the skills we learned in class to the clinical setting.”
Upon graduation, Roxas would like to work as an intensive care unit (ICU) nurse. Roxas is spending her summer at UMPC Western Maryland as a student nurse intern where she has seen and learned a lot in their ICU.
“I am interested in critical care nursing because of all the learning opportunities and being able to see and provide care for the most critical patients,” Roxas said. “Also, being able to advocate for the patient’s needs, especially the cases where they are not able to do it for themselves. Then, I would like to continue my education to be able to teach future nursing students since I enjoy teaching and explaining concepts to my classmates and the underclassmen, and I was truly inspired by the professors in our program.”
In addition to her studies, Roxas is helping impact her campus in many ways. She is the first student at WVU Potomac State College to complete the Honors Experiential and Community Engaged Learning (EXCEL) program, where she completed a research study to understand the experience of homesickness on her college campus. Based on her results, she is planning activities for first time freshman in the fall. She hopes that her work will have long-term effects, including decreased anxiety and depression, increased academic performance, and increased retention rate.
“EXCEL is a great program because it lets you choose a topic that you are passionate about,” Roxas said. “I experienced homesickness when I came to the United States and then again coming to college and I saw how it impacted my life. Also, working as a resident assistant, I saw how homesickness impacts students' lives. I am very passionate about this topic; I want to help students excel academically and socially.”
Roxas has been serving as a resident’s assistant at Potomac State College since her freshman year. She has been on the President’s List for earning a 3.7 to 4.0 grade point average while maintaining a full-time student status. She is also the recipient of the Service Above Self Award from the Keyser Rotary Club — the recipient of this award must demonstrate exemplary humanitarian service with an emphasis on personal volunteer efforts and active involvement in helping others.
She explained that being a nurse is important because nurses are the ones who advocate for the patients, communicate with the rest of the healthcare team, and who spends the most time with the patient providing individualized holistic care.
“Future nursing students should choose the WVU School of Nursing program if they want that one-on-one attention and relationship with professors, because it is a smaller campus,” Roxas said. “The professors are always there for you and to guide you. The relationship among our class is great — we don’t leave anyone behind and we are a support group for each other. The one-on-one attention makes it easy to have people that you can reach out to whenever you need help.”