Margaret Atenaga was born in Nigeria and has been in the United States since 2000. Margaret had been working for Personal-Touch Home Care as a home health aide for 12 years when she received her Basil Paterson Scholarship. It all started with a patient who used to call her “Nurse Margaret,” even though she was a home health aide. That experience empowered her to go to nursing school. Margaret completed the last semester of her Bachelor’s degree in Nursing at York College of the City University of New York (CUNY), and she graduated in fall 2015. While attending school, she has been dedicated to both her work and her education. Margaret graduated proudly, with her name on the college Dean’s List. She passed the RN-NCLEX licensure examination and is now working as a registered nurse. Margaret’s long-term goal is to become a nurse practitioner, and she said that her greatest inspiration is her family, who are very proud of her achievement. “I can’t believe I did it! I am so excited!” she said. About the scholarship, Margaret added, “I was not sure how the scholarship would help me. They made a believer out of me.”
