Hong “Steve” Seo, a 2019 graduate of the University of Arkansas at Little Rock and current BSN student, joined the Arkansas National Guard while he was still a student at Central High School. It was his work with medical evacuation units that inspired him to become a nurse.

After his high school graduation in 2011, Seo spent the next eight years working as a flight operations sergeant with the National Guard.

“I started at UA Little Rock in 2014,” he said. “I was originally an undeclared major. After my associate degree in general studies, I decided to do nursing. I spent the last three years of my military career in a medevac unit with flight medics, pilots, and nurses. I wanted to help people and save lives. That’s why I went into the medical field.”

During his time as a nursing major, Seo said that his knowledgeable instructors did a great job of preparing him for his future career.

“I really enjoy the nursing program,” Seo said. “All the instructors are very helpful. They are all experienced nurses and very knowledgeable. They did a good job of setting us up for success. You can tell that they really cared about the students.”

Something else that helped prepare him for success in the medical field is the six months he spent working as a student nurse technician at Central Arkansas Veterans Healthcare System during his last year in the associate degree program at UA Little Rock.

“It is a good job to have as a nursing student working to become a nurse,” Seo said. “You work very closely with the nurses. That job gave me more practical experience compared to other students who didn’t have a medical or healthcare related job.”

After he graduated with his associate degree in nursing in May 2019, Seo began work as a registered nurse in a cardiovascular Intensive Care Unit in Little Rock. He is currently continuing his education in the BSN program at UA Little Rock.

“Now that I am a nurse, I feel a combination of having the work experience and everything I learned during the nursing program at UA Little Rock helped me to be a success. The nursing program did a very good job of teaching me things that I needed to know and preparing me to be a nurse. All of the instructors were great. I’m confident that they are still doing a good job of preparing future nurses.”

For all of his fellow nurses who are celebrating Nurses Week, Seo has the following message.

“Nursing is a challenging profession,” he said. “Always remember the reasons why you wanted to be a nurse and how hard you worked to get there. I am both thankful and proud of you all.”