Student Spotlight: Nikita Patel

My name is Nikita, and I moved to Canada from the western part of India. I completed my Bachelor of Nursing in India and worked in ICU for a few months before moving to Canada. I originally moved to Ontario when I arrived, and I lived there for 10 months. I continued my nursing studies at Georgian College in Barrie, Ontario before moving to Brandon. There’s a period of time to wait for my nursing license, since I had done most of my education in India before coming to Canada, and I thought it would be a great opportunity to get more education and be able to work in healthcare while waiting for my license. That’s the main reason why I enrolled in the Comprehensive Health Care Aide program at Assiniboine. I have family here in Brandon, and they recommended Assiniboine to me. It’s been a wonderful experience so far.

I have no words to describe how amazing and kind my instructors are here at the college. With the pandemic, we do a lot of online learning, but we’re still able to come on campus for labs a few times a week and getting to know everyone has been great.

As for my classmates, in my cohort everyone is an international student, and we’ve all been able to bond through social media and the limited time we have working on campus. One of my favourite moments from the time I’ve got to spend with each other is being able to share different things from our cultures. Dancing is a huge part of my culture, and one of my most memorable times so far was on a break one day where we were able to share and teach each other dances. I was able to teach them Garba, which is one of the traditional dances I was taught in India. It was a great way to bond.

Assiniboine has been a great place to study as an international student. It’s great to have the college be so diverse, and the student body celebrates many of the festivals. I’ve not only been able to learn about Canada during my time here, but also learn from the other international students studying here as well.