A nurse’s inspiration

Introducing Ijabo Ibrahim, a fourth year student at SDSU’s School of Nursing and Certified Nursing Assistant at Sharp Hospital. As a San Diego Education Fund scholarship recipient, Ijabo came straight from work (still wearing scrubs) to our Board meeting, where she recounted her inspiration.

In the early 1990s, her family fled Somalia as refugees of that country’s civil war. To face the challenge of assimilation, her mother attended community college and earned her own nursing certificate.

Her mother’s determination, and the tight bond of a family that has faced adversity, are driving forces behind Ijabo’s hard work. More motivation has come from seeing the compassionate care nurses have provided to her own family members.

Looking ahead, Ijabo is moving toward working in an emergency department.

Her talk ended with words of thanks for the scholarship.

“It covered college tuition and textbooks for nursing exams and has taken a great weight off of my shoulders,” Ijabo said. “Without it I would have had to work constant hours.”