Tonatiuh Bearheart

Just what the health care system is looking for – NorQuest graduates

Second year practical nursing student Tonatiuh (T.J.) Bearheart is a great example of what a NorQuest College graduate is, and what the health care industry needs of its front line workers:  He’s personable, confident, interactive and knowledgeable, and rarely shies away from a good joke.

“NorQuest has given me an awareness of what I am capable of,” he says. “I didn’t have a single teacher who wasn’t willing to spend extra hours with students. It sounds so simple, but for the first four months I refused to ask for help and then eventually it was like: ‘yo instructors, what’s up?’” he adds with an urban drawl and a quick laugh.

Entering his final year at NorQuest, Bearheart’s future is much more secure than it was just a few years ago. The college has made a commitment to help in the improvement of lives through an education that is student-centred and relevant to the needs of the community.

And now, just one year away from graduation, he can see how his education will help many people – included, of course, himself.

“I realize I love health care, and at first I wasn’t sure where I was going to fit. I thought I would try the practical nurse program and if I loved nursing I would continue on forward. Now and after realizing all my potential I thought: ‘I am 23 – I can go anywhere in the world and be anything.’ So becoming a practical nurse is my base so I can understand where I fit into health care.”