Erath senior wins 'What I want to be and why' essay contest

For the last 35-plus years, the Abbeville Rotary Club has been sponsoring “What I Want to Be and Why” essay contest, and this year’s winner is Erath High senior Alix Puyau.
She wins a $2,000 scholarship from the Rotarians for her winning essay. As long as she maintains a 2.5 grade point average, she will receive $500 a semester for two years.
Puyau, the daughter of Jackie and Jerome Puyau, wrote her essay on becoming a registered nurse.
In her essay, she described what event changed her life to make her want to be a registered nurse.
That event occurred in the driveway when she fell down while roller skating with her sister.
She began screaming and yelling, and her mother came and comforted her with hugs and kisses. She also rushed her to the emergency room.
“I do not recall many specifics of the drive or the hospital, but what I do recall is how calm and confident the nurse who took care of me was,” said Alix in her essay. “Her warm smile and silly jokes made me forget about my pain. In a way, this nurse, like all nurses, is the mother at the hospital.”
She said ever since that emergency room visit, she was inspired to be a nurse.
“Just like a mother, I will put all my love and energy into taking care of patients.”
After graduating from Erath on Saturday, she will attend the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. Her long term goal is to become a nurse practitioner.
She admits the journey to becoming a nurse will be challenging but she said with “hard work and determination, I can achieve anything.”