A curious mind and the notion that you are a life learner is the way to go for the newly licensed Registered Nurse, Arati Ghising Tamang, in the State of Virginia, USA. As someone who learned to take care of people around herself at an early age from her mother, Arati had set her mind to become a health professional in the future at an early age. Till this day, health science and human behavior continues to fascinate Arati, and is always incorporating evidence-based practices in her personal and professional life.
Arati graduated from nursing school with an Associate’s Degree in May 2017 with honors, and plans to go back to school to complete her Bachelor in Nursing from the University of Virginia Schoo
l of Nursing. Her long- term plan is to become either a Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist (CRNA) or a Nurse Practitioner (NP).
Arati is one of the thousands of Bhutanese refugees who had to flee on her mother’s lap at the age of 6-months from Bhutan. Later, her family was resettled in Bhutanese Refugee camp Beldangi II in Nepal. Forced to flee with the war-torn family with little to no belongings, her father, a science student at Sherubtse college in east Bhutan, took the responsibility of his family gracefully in his own hands and moved to Kathmandu soon after in the search of better job and future. He believed in nothing but giving his then two young daughters quality education in the capital city of Nepal, Kathmandu. There, Arati attended and graduated from a renowned and one of the best schools in the valley.
When the long-awaited opportunity came to be resettled in a developed third country, she chose to come to the United States at the young age of twenty in the summer of 2012. Since then, she has worked on nothing but to educate herself and achieve the American dream built on hard work, kindness, and compassion for her community. Arati graduated from nursing school with an Associate’s Degree in May 2017 with honors, and plans to go back to school to complete her Bachelor in Nursing from the University of Virginia School of Nursing. Her long- term plan is to become either a Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist (CRNA) or a Nurse Practitioner (NP).
Throughout the tenure in the United States–in addition to working towards her career goals– she always tried to find ways to educate and give back to her community. Arati worked as a community interpreter for people with limited English proficiency for various services at schools, hospitals, courts, and so on and so forth. She volunteered with the International Rescue Committee to encourage eligible people from her community to apply for citizenship, and with The Women’s Initiative as a co-facilitator in providing workshops on mental health and nutrition.
Let alone winning, Arati hadn’t even considered filling an application to Miss Bhutan US until a month before the deadline for the pageantry for 2017 because of commitment to school and her personal responsibilities. But finally, she could participate in the pageantry after she was finished with school and had the summer to herself. With the new identity, Arati Ghising Tamang, Miss Bhutan US 2017, plans to work on the deficits such as, youth illiteracy, women empowerment, teen pregnancy, alcoholism and drugs, and so on that we face as resettled Bhutanese refugees in the United states.
