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Our career decisions could be heavily influenced by our childhood experience. That was how Lee Yee-ching, a year-two nursing student at the Hong Kong Metropolitan University, came to choose what she wanted to become.
Sickly during childhood, Yee-ching is full of memories of all the time she spent in hospital. While those were tough experiences, especially for a young child, one positive impression she took from them was all the caring nurses who helped look after her. Years later, they would become the inspiration for her desire to become a nurse herself.
Since 2021, Link University Scholarship has been extended to self-financing universities, including the Hong Kong Metropolitan University. 2021 was also the year when Yee-ching first applied for the scholarship. For her, the most meaningful and memorable experience has been taking part in activities organized by Link Scholars Alumni, including tours of local Muslim mosques and lunches with non-Chinese communities in Hong Kong. A self-described introvert, Yee-ching has long wanted to expand her social circle outside of academic life. “These eye-opening experiences with the alumni group have provided opportunities for me to connect more with the non-Chinese communities of Hong Kong and their different cultures.”
Yee-ching has also taken part in community service, including visiting elderly homes and tutoring students with special needs. These activities have prompted her to think more about the needs of different people. Take her experience with autistic and dyslexic students as an example. In the past her impression was that they were simply unstable and unapproachable. Yet having worked with them personally, her perceptions have changed. “Many of them are actually very kind and diligent with learning,” she said. “These volunteer experiences teach me not to pass judgement on other people without first understanding their situation.”
It is well documented that nursing staff in Hong Kong are constantly under enormous pressure at the workplace. Surveys conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic showed that more than 80% of them suffered from mental stress. While acknowledging the challenges of her future profession, Yee-ching said she has never wavered in her determination to become a nurse. Born in 2004, the year after the SARS epidemic, Yee-ching was hospitalised regularly due to frequent bouts of flu. As her family were unable to visit her due to SARS-related restrictions, she was mostly cared for by the nurses. “After a while, I started to develop special connections with the nurses,” she said. “I felt like I was being looked after by someone close to me.”
In Form 3, Yee-ching set out to study nursing. She is now a second-year student at the university who’s passionate about the profession. She is also full of praise for the resources available to nursing students at the school, such as the simulated wards and the helpful teachers who are always willing to share their experience and knowledge.
When asked how she spent the $20,000 scholarship grant, Yee-ching said, “I spent part of the scholarship on buying reference books on patient psychoanalysis, and I used the rest for medical equipment that can help with my training and practice. This is what I appreciate most about the scholarship grants,” she said. “There’s a lot of flexibility in what we can use it on.”
Looking into 2024, Yee-ching is full of expectation, as she can finally participate in clinical placement at the hospitals. There, she will be taught by medical professionals and gain the opportunity to look after real patients.
