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10\/23\/2024<\/p>\n
As a Kathwari Honors Student, Kathwari Honors Assistant, sophomore Nursing major, Psychology minor, and social media specialist extraordinaire, Andrea Mandujano wears many hats. Regardless of which hat she\u2019s wearing, it\u2019s guaranteed that she\u2019s giving back to others and her community. This summer, in Costa Rica, she gave back through the Maxim\u00f3 Nivel program, where she served as a volunteer at the Asociaci\u00f3n Albergue de Rehabilitaci\u00f3n al Alcoh\u00f3lico Adulto Mayor Indigente (The Association for the Rehabilitation of Elderly Alcoholics).<\/p>\n
As one of the only Spanish-speaking volunteers, she felt proud to provide a quality of care and communication that other volunteers weren\u2019t able to give. Andrea described one such moment where she made a difference: \u201cWhen I did a walk-through on my first day, this patient was sitting in his wheelchair crying. Site staff had told me that he was very depressed, and I could see the sadness in his eyes. While I was there, I made sure to take him on walks so he could easily talk to someone. We went on walks where he would tell me about his life before being in the facility. It really meant a lot to him, and I learned a lot too.\u201d<\/p>\n
Besides her volunteer work, Andrea immersed herself in Costa Rican culture. Andrea\u2019s homestay was with her \u201chomestay mom,\u201d Marlene, who truly transformed her trip abroad. This trip was Andrea\u2019s first time traveling outside of the U.S., so Marlene\u2019s delicious traditional Costa Rican dishes and advice for what to experience really made her feel at home away from home. Another person who made a big difference on her trip was Nurse Rebecca at her volunteer placement. She gave Andrea endless advice and guidance on treating patients and mobilizing them: \u201cNurse Rebecca and Marlene genuinely wanted to help and teach me, and I appreciated that.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Andrea emphasizes how much of her transformative experiences at WCSU were a direct result of her involvement in the Kathwari Honors Program. As a transfer student, she truly appreciates the resources and the community of the Honors Program where everyone, staff and students alike, truly want each other to succeed and have opportunities that students at other institutions don\u2019t get to have. \u201cBecause of the generous funding from the Kathwari Family and Barden Fund, I was able to experience Costa Rica and learn about what clinical experience in a nursing home is like,\u201d Andrea explains, \u201cand it also helped me better my Spanish medical terminology. I wouldn’t have been able to do these things without their generosity!\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Andrea Mandujano, a sophomore Nursing major and Psychology minor, spent summer 2023 volunteering in Costa Rica at a rehabilitation center for elderly alcoholics. As one of the few Spanish-speaking volunteers, she provided valuable care and companionship to patients, including one who was depressed. Immersing herself in Costa Rican culture, Andrea stayed with a local host and gained hands-on experience from Nurse Rebecca. Andrea credits the Kathwari Honors Program’s support for making her transformative trip possible, helping her develop her clinical skills and improve her Spanish medical terminology… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":391,"featured_media":4494,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wds_primary_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[16],"class_list":["post-4493","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-success-stories","tag-success-stories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wcsu.edu\/honors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4493","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wcsu.edu\/honors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wcsu.edu\/honors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wcsu.edu\/honors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/391"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wcsu.edu\/honors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4493"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.wcsu.edu\/honors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4493\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wcsu.edu\/honors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4494"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wcsu.edu\/honors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4493"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wcsu.edu\/honors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4493"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wcsu.edu\/honors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4493"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}