UACCM Student Gives Back — My UACCM Story
Ulyana Aaron is
constantly busy. On top of being a full-time student and holding down a job at
Chick-fil-A, she spends her time volunteering. You can see her at community
events and participating in UACCM Gives Back, a program from UACCM Student
Activities and Events where volunteers help local causes. Or perhaps she is
working with kids at a school or with residents at care centers. These are
examples of this nursing student’s wholehearted embrace of community service
and captures her drive to be in a cause higher than herself.
Aaron’s
interest in volunteering started with her desire to serve the community and be
more social. Her passion is contagious and unfaltering. Her first cause was the
Greenbrier Elementary School, where she worked with children as a teacher’s
aide. She later spent significant time at the Human Development Center in
Conway, where she read books, played games, and talked to the residents. The
whole experience gave her a different perspective at life.
She’s
constantly on the move in her volunteer work because there are so many issues
that she can address and people to help. “I cannot stay at one place forever. I
should be in different places because there are people with different needs
everywhere,” she said.
From time to time, she sees people from her past causes and they ask her to return, but she still feels like she’s needed elsewhere.
With her heavy
dose of volunteering, concentrating on the school-life balance is a must. She
loves her work, but constantly has to remind herself that school is most
important. “Education is there forever. It’s my future. I love my work but
college will make me achieve my goals,” she said. “It’s hard sometimes to keep
a 100 percent on school, but you have to be honest with yourself.”
Born in Ukraine,
she grew up in several places but mostly identifies with the small town of Lysa
Hora. She moved to the United States at 17, finished her secondary education in
homeschool, and took English classes at the UACCM Adult Education site in
Conway. Cleverly, she took advantage of its resources by improving her English with
G.E.D. practice tests, even though she had no need to take the exam.
“They got
different books for me,” she said, referring to the Adult Education staff to
challenge her more.
She started to
spend more time at Adult Education after class time to work as a tutor’s
assistant. When the time arrived to look into colleges, she knew she wanted to
enroll at UACCM. Her connection with the college sparked, and she wanted to be
a part of the school that already provided so much. “I wanted to support this
college,” she said.
While she was
tempted to apply at larger universities, she felt that UACCM provided her an
affordable option that met her expectations of a college experience. Her
passion for community service led to the field of medicine. “I want to be a
nurse practitioner. This is my goal, and I didn’t need to spend so much money
if my opportunities were here,” she said.
She heard good things about the nursing program. The career choice was always in the back of her mind, she said. She has a fallback career: to be a detective, and if there are any shared traits between the two fields, it’s that both are rooted in service and helping others. Eventually she wants to attend the University of Central Arkansas in Conway to get a bachelor’s degree.
Now as a
first-year student, she is able to volunteer with UACCM Gives Back. Among her
work, she joined students and staff at Main Street Morrilton’s First Thursday
Farmers’ Market, where she played games with kids.
Expect Aaron to
continue to be active at UACCM. You’ll see her at events and giving back. Most
recently, she attended the Leadership Academy sponsored by Arkansas Community
Colleges, a retreat for students to explore team building, leadership skills, and academic excellence.
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