Norma Urbina, RN and Adriana Urbina, RN Former El Centro College Rising Star Scholars

Norma Urbina, RN

and 

Adriana Urbina, RN

Former Rising Star Scholars
Health Professions Alumni, El Centro College

For more than a decade, sisters Norma and Adriana Urbina have been doing most things together – and they wouldn’t have it any other way.

Though Norma is older by two years, she ended up in the same grade as Adriana when all of her high school credits didn’t transfer after the family moved from Durango, Mexico, to the U.S. Since their junior year in high school, the two sisters have been side by side in their education and careers.

The two graduated from high school together, were both named Rising Star scholars and graduated together from El Centro’s Associate Degree Nursing program in December 2004. Both earned bachelor’s degrees in nursing at the University of Texas at Arlington and are still continuing their education.

Adriana is earning a nurse practitioner graduate degree at UTA. Norma plans to start her graduate studies there towards a master's degree in nursing with an emphasis in certified registered nurse anesthesist (CRNA). Today both work as nurses at Methodist Dallas Medical Center – Norma as a surgical nurse and Adriana as an oncology nurse.

“My Rising Star scholarship was a great opportunity and I took full advantage of it,” says Adriana. “Community college provided a foundation for me to begin higher education, and I’ve been going forward ever since.”

Adds Norma, “Getting a scholarship was important to me and my sister. We were the first ones in our family to graduate from high school, and our family just didn’t have the funds to send us to college.
“My nursing work is a little different from most in that my direct care starts when a patient comes into surgery,” says Norma. “It’s stressful and they’re afraid, and I love that I can give them some comfort in a difficult situation and make them feel a little more at ease. It’s different work every day and I love that.”

“What I love about nursing is helping others,” says Adriana. “I work with cancer patients who might not have much going for them, and even a simple ‘thank you’ from them can make my day. It brings a smile to my face.”