Silva Magnet seniors ready for nursing school

EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) -- High school seniors in the borderland are getting a head start on a career in medicine making history along the way.

Silva magnet’s high school just celebrated the first of its kind. Students graduating with the necessary credits to start nursing school.

"It's a little bit scary because we are going to be really younger than everyone else when we go to nurses' school. Everyone else is going to be 20's and 25 and we're going to be 17 and 18," said Sophia Piedra, a Senior in the Silva Magnet Program.

"I'm proud of myself and my peers for making it through the four years of being here. It's just an amazing opportunity for us to have," said Naomi Heir, a Senior in the Silva Magnet Program.

Students at Silva Magnet are part of the first accelerated Bachelor of Science in Nursing program. The program allows students to become eligible for nursing school when they graduate from high school since they earn college credits while at the Silva Magnet Health Program.

"It's really tough and it. It prepares us for college," said Heir.

"It taught me how to interact with patients or how to read medical records and understand medical terminology. The other day I was learning about Hyperthyroidism and Graves disease and I couldn't even imagine like being able to understand that when I was little and now like I do understand that. It's like so crazy. Like it's really cool," Kristian Campa, a Senior in the Silva Magnet Program.

"It's really challenging. You always have homework like every night. We have to study constantly. It prepared me, it's giving me good study guides, and how to study properly," said Piedra.

Many in the magnet program were inspired to pursue nursing after their own encounters with nurses.

"It has been a lifetime goal and dream. My mom's a nurse and my Tia's a nurse and just seeing them help all these people, just watching them be nurses, it made me want to be a nurse," said Heir.

"Seeing my grandmother in the hospital after her diagnosis with cancer and like seeing how the nurses interacted with her really like brought me to the nursing field," Campa.

"Ever since I was a little kid because my grandmother passed away from cancer and I saw the nurse always there to help her out and everything and I wanted to be that kind-hearted person helping out patients and being there for the family," said Piedra.

All excited about their future in the field.

"It's amazing. I've realized how much nurses do for our community," said Campa.

"Believe in yourself 'cause it is challenging any career that you choose," said Piedra.