Interview with Shahmeer Azmat
by Vicki Heisser |
PWSC: Hi, Shahmeer. I know you are relatively new to Alaska. Where were you born and raised?
Shahmeer: I was born in Karachi, Pakistan. It is a city of 20 million people on the coast, and when I was younger, my family moved to New York, so I have always been a big city kid. I moved to Alaska in 2015 and have lived in Wrangell and Homer before Valdez.
PWSC: You seem to be an adventurous person. Where does your love of adventure come from?
Shahmeer: That’s a big question. I started with bicycle touring, riding from Seattle down to the Panama Canal when I was 19.Over the course of nine months, I rode over 9,000 miles and that trip got me hooked on being outside. I spent every night in my tent, studying Spanish from a little dictionary that I had. I felt wildly independent on that trip, like my world was absolutely in my control. That’s a feeling that’s hard to let go of.
PWSC: What brought you to Alaska?
Shahmeer: I moved to Wrangell after getting a job as an wilderness therapy guide for an agency called Alaska Crossings. It’s work I still do in the summer. I lead at-risk youth from around the state on 62-day backcountry expeditions. I came to Valdez in the summer of 2017 as a potential home to pursue a nursing degree. I loved how accessible recreation was by bicycle and how much Valdez has to offer. I also loved PWSC’s nursing program.
PWSC: How did you hear about the nursing program here?
Shahmeer: It was my intention to apply to the nursing program at UAA and they had several different satellite programs around the state, three of which worked with the schedule I wanted. I made a pro/con list to decide whether to stay in Homer or move to Juneau or Valdez. I decided to come and check out Valdez and loved it the moment I got here.
PWSC: What inspired you to get into nursing?
Shahmeer: In 2014, when I was 22, I volunteered in the emergency department at the primary hospital in my home city of 20 million people in Pakistan. That experience was really eye-opening for me in providing care with limited resources. For example, we only had these big floppy gloves, like the ones restaurants use to make sandwiches. We had to stop bullet wounds from bleeding and place IVs, things like that, with those slippery gloves on. From that experience I learned a lot, and I wanted more of the experience in the ER in a place that had higher medical standards; where I felt a little safer and more comfortable. My mom convinced me to enter nursing school afterward, and I appreciate her so much for doing that.
PWSC: How has your experience as a student been so far here at PWSC?
Shahmeer: I love being a student here. Everyone is tremendously supportive of the nursing students and of the students in general. There are so many facilities available for us to practice a variety of different procedures. I feel a lot of support.
PWSC: Whenever I see you all in the lab, there seems to be a lot of hands-on experience.
Shahmeer: Absolutely. The hands-on component of our experiences here in Valdez is top notch. Kelly [the nursing instructor] really makes sure that we have a full understanding of the procedures that we are going to be performing. When we go to work at the hospital with patients, he makes sure that we perform the procedure at the highest standards.
PWSC What do you think of the equipment and the facility here?
Shahmeer: The nursing lab here at PWSC is outstanding. The mannequins are life-like. They can exhibit symptoms of their own and can really provide us a realistic scenario for taking care of patients who are in emergencies. There is recording equipment so we can analyze our own performances afterward. The college really makes sure that the education we get is of the highest quality.
PWSC: Is there anyone in particular that you would like to give a shout out to?
Shahmeer: I definitely have to give a shout-out to our nursing instructor Kelly for providing us with so many learning opportunities and for taking on a second position here in Valdez to help mold the future of nursing in our town.
PWSC: Besides being a full-time student, do you have a job?
Shahmeer: I work for KCHU, public radio for Prince William Sound and the Copper River Valley. I occasionally host our Morning Edition program. And in the last few months I have also been producing some local news pieces about events in Valdez, Cordova and the Copper River Valley.
PWSC: When you say you’re producing the show does that mean that you’re finding the news, writing it, and then reporting it?
Shahmeer: Yes, I’m doing the whole thing from beginning to end. I scope out news ideas, I find people to interview, I write the story, I record and edit it. It can be a real time management challenge while attending nursing school so I produce work as I can.
PWSC: You're graduating in December, aren’t you?
Shahmeer: Yes, I am. I love going to school at Prince William Sound College, but I’m going to love graduating even more.
PWSC: Would you recommend PWSC to others?
Shahmeer: Absolutely. I cannot think of another place in the world where you can get an education like this, in a place like this. Valdez has such incredible access and resources and the support of the college is unparalleled. I would definitely recommend getting an education at PWSC.
PWSC: What’s next for you?
Shahmeer: After I graduate I would like to take a little bit of time off. I would like to go travel a little bit more and then after that I hope to begin my career in nursing. I love Valdez. I would love to stay and work here.
PWSC: So you mentioned earlier that you worked in Wrangell at Alaska Crossings. Would tell me more about your position and what motivates you to want to work with at-risk youth?
Shahmeer: I started working with Alaska crossings in 2015. I had just come from climbing and living in the deserts of Utah. I was transplanted to the rain forest of Southeast Alaska where I had no experience at all, and then I started a guiding job; it was a real challenge for me. Now four years into it, my role as a guide for Alaska Crossings is to teach at-risk Alaskan youth outdoor skills to help them succeed in an outdoor environment, but it’s also to teach them life skills. Things like how to communicate in healthy ways with others, and how to manage their emotions. And those two responsibilities were what really attracted me to the job. I love working with youth and I love being outside.
PWSC Are you working there this summer?
Shahmeer: Yes. I’ll be working a 40-day shift with a group of boys from around the state in June and July.
PWSC: So, this might be a lofty question, but how would you sum up your philosophy on life?
Shahmeer: Oh, my philosophy on life. I don’t know that I have a really clean quote on my philosophy about life, but I just really like being outside. Most of what I do is motivated by being outside. I want to be a nurse so that one day I can work as a travel nurse and spend six months of the year working, then spend three months guiding for Alaska Crossings and have three months of playtime every year just to be outdoors and enjoy myself. I’ve learned so many valuable lessons from spending time outside, especially in the realms of independence, motivation, and a better understanding of the world around me. All of that time that I spend outside alone has given me so much appreciation for the people around me and things that I can do to make the world a better place. I’ve definitely hit rock bottom before. I’ve tossed my bike in a ditch before. I’ve given up on different rock climbs and winter time paddling expeditions. I think when I was younger that stuff really got to me, that shame after giving up and quitting. But as I’ve gotten older, I have started to see more value in just trying things. If I fail, that’s fine. It’s all a learning experience for me.