Nursing in the next half-century

50th anniversary student spotlight: Randeep Gill

By California State University, Bakersfield

September 8^th, 2020

In 50 years, California State University, Bakersfield has matriculated thousands of nurses through its School of Natural Sciences, Mathematics, and Engineering. The nursing program is going stronger than ever and has become competitive to enroll in, a fact that bodes well for the next half-century of the school, its students and the community its graduates serve.

Joining the proud tradition of home-grown medical professionals is Randeep Gill, a junior in the program and president of the 2022 nursing class. The first-generation college student is working hard toward his goal of becoming an emergency room or trauma unit nurse.

“Going into the program, I was very nervous in terms of would I be able to manage the workload, is everything going to be competitive like it was leading up into nursing school?” Gill, 22, said. “But it was actually the opposite. I found it very easy to make friends. Everyone is in it together. Once you’re in the nursing program, it’s a family.”

Gill’s interest in the medical field started when his grandfather received hospice care at the family’s home. Seeing the care with which one specific nurse tended to his grandfather, who had Parkinson’s disease, inspired him to consider a career in the field.

“He would come in and explain everything he was doing; he would make me part of my grandfather’s care,” Gill recalled of the nurse. “I asked him of all the things you could do as a nurse, why would you do end-of-life care? He said, ‘I want to be the type of nurse that takes care of people at the end of their days and give them the most comfort before they pass on.’ (That experience) jumpstarted my interest in medicine.”

Shortly after his grandfather died, Gill began volunteering at Mercy Southwest while a sophomore at Stockdale High School. Later, he started taking shifts at Kern Medical, helping in whatever way he could, whether it was getting supplies or greeting guests.

“It struck my interest because I was able to meet different people from all over the hospital,” he said. “I didn’t know what I wanted to do at that point, whether it was become a doctor or go into nursing, but I knew whatever I ended up doing it would be (in the medical field).”

After graduating from Bakersfield College with his associate degree in biology, he decided to enroll at CSUB to continue his education. Instead of choosing between becoming a nurse or a doctor, Gill opted for both: he would get his bachelor’s in nursing while fulfilling pre-med requirements.

“I realized how nurses actually end up running the hospital,” Gill said. “They have to manage the patient’s whole schedule, where the doctor would only come in once a day maybe to check up on the patient. Seeing that side of the medical field made me really compassionate about nurses. I decided I wanted to start off as a nurse and get that experience and then work my way up into the field as a doctor.”

In CSUB’s nursing department, Gill has found a glimpse of the camaraderie and teamwork that will be a key part of his career, whether he is a nurse or doctor.

“Our class is really there for each other,” he said. “A lot of my classmates go above and beyond to make sure everyone’s on the same page and everyone’s getting the material. It’s a blessing to have such a great class.”

Assistant professor and director of the undergraduate nursing program Charles Collom said CSUB’s nursing students are among the best in the country and that Gill, who also goes by the nickname Randy, is “among the elite of the elite.” He has seen Gill shine as the president of the Nursing Class of 2022, which Collom serves as advisor.

“Randy is an exceptionally thoughtful and conscientious student leader,” Collom said. “He has displayed uncommon intelligence and empathy in his leadership roles, revealing a potential for great achievements.”

Finding his way through the university experience hasn’t always been easy for Gill. He and his twin brother, Jagdeep, are the first in their family to go to college. Their parents immigrated to the U.S. from India in the 1990s, and their father, a truck driver, and mother, a certified nursing assistant, have worked hard to give them a higher education here.

“Going into BC, I didn’t even know what a course catalog was,” Gill said. “It was new terrain, so a lot of it was just grasping at different things, but being able to struggle through it made it even more worthwhile because it made me a better person and taught me to be more independent and realize not everything is going to be handed to you.”

Being a nursing student in 2020 is much different from being one when CSUB first opened 50 years ago, and not just because of advances in technology. Today’s students are learning amid a global pandemic, taking classes online and completing clinical hours virtually.

A nursing student couldn’t be blamed for looking at the health crisis and having second thoughts about their chosen path, but Gill is more inspired to join the field than ever.

“I’m so happy to be a nurse, especially now because we’re needed so badly,” he said. Seeing others in the field rise to the challenge is “motivating to me. I wish there was some way I could rush through this program and be successful and start working on the frontlines because I’m looking forward to it.”

Once he has graduated from CSUB, Gill plans to work as a nurse for a couple years before applying to medical school. Though furthering his education might take him out of Bakersfield, he hopes to return here afterward.

“I was born and raised here in Bakersfield, so I don’t see any other place like home,” he said. “Doing clinicals at Mercy and Kern Medical, those are hospitals where I have experience from my volunteering days, and now my clinical days, and eventually down the road I want to have those experiences as a full-fledged nurse.”