by: Emma Fleming
In honor of Black History Month, Parkland faculty and staff selected seven students to receive the Outstanding Black Student Award. The award highlights the recipients as great representatives of their community, great representatives of Parkland, and successful students. This award is just one way that Parkland is celebrating Black History Month. One recipient of this award is Alexis Taylor.
When asked what this award means to her, Taylor said that it’s an honor to be selected. “I’ve always been very interested in my culture and black history. I took a lot of African American history classes in high school and I’ve always been very proud to be black,” she said. “This award means a lot because you don’t really get a lot of acknowledgement or you get overlooked, but to finally be acknowledged is important to me.”
Taylor mentioned that Black History Month is important to her, too. When she was in high school, she would often decorate for events and talk with people about different elements of black history.
The Parkland student is a nursing major who wants to become a nurse practitioner. Taylor said that if she could choose, she would work in family medicine or in oncology. “I’m really open to working with all types of people. I get along with a lot of different groups, but I think I would like to work in family medicine or maybe oncology,” she said.
Taylor has been interested in nursing most of her life, especially after she had experienced a death in her family. “I always had a strong passion for the medical mathematics and sciences, but my great grandma got really sick and had a brain aneurysm. She was in the hospital for three weeks before she passed away,” Taylor said. “I was in the hospital every day helping her and working with the nurses; it really made me realize how important a good nurse can be.”
Along with being an engaged student, Taylor has been active on campus. “I was in SNAP [Student Nurses Association at Parkland], and both of my parents work on campus, so I help out in their offices,” she said.
The nursing student also has interests outside of Parkland. Taylor works part-time as a legal assistant at a local law office. “My grandpa is actually the lawyer and owns the office. I needed a job and he let me try a legal assistant position. I actually did really good and I’ve enjoyed it. I’ve learned a lot from working there,” Taylor told the Prospectus. She also is an assistant cheerleading coach at Central High School, where she graduated from at 17 years old.
Taylor provided some advice for students, which is advice that she tries to follow every day. “Motivation and knowing why you are here are important,” she said. “If you stay motivated you can do anything you want. And, if you’re in the position you’re in now, then you deserve to be there, and you deserve to keep going.”
“If you stay motivated you can do anything you want” – Alexis Taylor
The person who motivates Taylor to keep going is her mother. “My mother has guided me a lot, so I just want to do everything to make her proud. I want to offer her so much like she has offered me. I want to make her proud so she can see all the effort she’s put into me is worth it,” she said. She mentioned that her mother worked hard to obtain a bachelor’s and master’s degree, and Taylor has seen that and wants to do the same.
On a final note, Taylor said that she wants Parkland to continue to strive for inclusivity. The nursing student believes it is important to be open and understanding of different people and backgrounds, and she wishes that all faculty, staff, and students will keep that in mind after she graduates.
