Nurse Satya Chaulagain is living her dream! A December 2008 graduate of Wake Tech’s associate’s degree nursing program, Satya works at Duke Hospital’s world-renowned cardiology center.

“It’s still hard for me to believe how lucky I am,” Satya says. “Imagine: a girl who was raised in an orphanage in Nepal is now working for one of the best hospitals in the world. What an opportunity!”

Taken to an orphanage as a young child, Satya was fortunate to have an American host family bring her to the Triangle in 2003 to finish high school. She worked in Europe for a year before returning here to enroll at Wake Tech. Satya started with English as a Foreign Language classes, and was ultimately accepted into Wake Tech’s competitive nursing program.

“Nursing school was very challenging, but thinking about my past experiences made me stronger,” she says. “I kept a positive ‘Yes I can’ attitude.” Satya also recognizes the support system that helped her through: “I am extremely grateful to my host family and to my instructors at Wake Tech, who gave me the chance to pursue my dream!”