Caring for grandma led her to take nursing, no. 2 board finish

She dreamed of being a soldier but was two inches short of the required height of five feet and two inches in the Philippine Military Academy.

Even when Kristen Erika Hife Pino enrolled in Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree at the Cebu Normal University, she had other courses in mind.

“There were times that I wanted to shift to another course like photography or any art related course,” she said.

It was only in her third year that she had a change of heart.

“I found out that it’s a nice feeling and gratifying also when your patient thanks you, and you can see progress in their condition,” she said.

When a friend texted her last Thursday that she placed second out of 67,095 nursing graduates who took the board examination last June 30 to July 1, she couldn’t believe it.

Pino topped the Nursing Licensure Exam with a score of 85.4, second place among 22,760 board passers.

It took a few hours for the victory to sink in.

“At 4 p.m. I really cried. The first person who came to my mind was my late grandmother. She was the reason I took this course,” she said.

When her grandmother fell ill, Pino took care of her. That’s when her parents suggested that she study to become a nurse.

Pino who described herself as “goal-oriented” said that she worked hard not just to pass but to get high scores.

“I was aiming for a score of 90, but the exam was really hard,” Pino said.

After the two-day board exam, she said she was only confident of her answer in one question in the 500-item exam because she didn’t encounter the other the questions in her review.

Pino, who was relying on self-review, thanked her teachers and batchmates for convincing her to enroll in a review center.

“I’m very thankful that I did a formal review because it helped me digest the questions and see its pattern instead of just studying by myself,” she said.

All of her 172 batch mates took nursing board exam review sessions at Power House review center in barangay Capitol Site, Cebu City.

She said she found strength in the words of encouragement from mentors and friends.

Pino lives in Lapu-Lapu City with two siblings and loving parents.

She graduated salutatorian in elementary school and valedictorian in high school.

Pino said she plans to take a masters degree and would love to work in a hospital’s Emergency Room, assisting trauma patients.

“I really like to work in quick situations,” said Pino.

Red luck

Pino’s mom gave her four red items for luck — a rosary, head scarf, handkerchief and underwear which she wore when she took the exam.

At present, Pino is training as a call center agent in the I.T Park in Cebu City.

She said the stringent training she got CNU was a big factor behind her high score in the board exam and 11 other graduates from her alma mater who placed in the top ten.

CNU also registered a 100 percent passing rate for all 172 graduates who took the exam.

The screening of the Nursing College of CNU “is very strict” and first year examinees must attain a grade point average of 85 percent in the four core subjects of Math, Science, English and Social Sciences, said Ana Leah Dungog-Cuizon, the school’s public information officer.

“Even if they passed the entrance exam, they will still be ranked because we only accept 40 to 50 first year students to constitute one class,” she said.

Cuizon said that Pino’s batch in school year 2011-2012 had four sections instead of the usual two sections.

“We have a tough entrance examination. We are one of the schools with the strictest screening in terms of recruitment for the freshman. We produced the best students,” said Cuizon.

“We also have one of the best facilities.

“We are very happy that this is the biggest number of topnotchers and board passers from CNU,” said Dungog.

In previous years, only two or three of their nursing graduates made it to the top ten.

CNU was among the nation’s top three performing schools with a 100 percent passing rate.

CNU earned a level 4 accreditation from Accredited Agency of Chartered Colleges and Universities (AACUP) under the Commission on Higher Education (CHED), early this year.

By tradition the CNU administration will offer a thanksgiving program next week to recognize the Top 12 board passers and give a “little cash gift”.

Meanwhile, the administration of the University of Cebu, Banilad campus will give at least P50,000 cash incentive to its nursing graduate who placed tenth overall in the recent Nursing Licensure Exam.

Vanessa Migallow Tocle got a score of 83.8 percent and place tenth in the board exam

The cash incentives was announced by UC president Augusto Go during their 10th anniversary yesterday.

Go said UC had 350 examinees, one of the biggest batches of examinees taking the board.

UC Banilad had a 93.9 passing percentage rate this year.

Go also congratulated other schools who have topnotchers — CNU had 12, Velez College with 5 and SouthWestern University with one topnotcher./with Correspondent Jhunnex Napallacan