I've always wanted to be a nurse. That’s what I’ve wanted to be ever since I can remember. I’ve always had a passion for caring for people.
If anyone questions the commitment, dedication and passion Daniellis Jimenez has for nursing, she simply slides up her right shirt sleeve.
On her wrist, permanently etched onto her skin in dark blue ink, is a tattoo of a pulse line, the outline of a heart and these words: “It’s a Beautiful Day to Save Lives.”
“That’s my daily reminder,” said Jimenez, who got the tattoo in 2021. “It’s my way to remember what I’m doing and what I want to be.”
And Jimenez, who grew up on Milwaukee’s south side and is the first person in her family to graduate from high school and college, wants to be a registered nurse.
“That’s what I’ve wanted to be ever since I can remember,” she said. “I’ve always had a passion for caring for people.”
She’s off to a great start: She received a technical diploma in Practical Nursing from Milwaukee Area Technical College in May 2024 after taking classes for five years. Her classmates chose her to be the student speaker at the nurse pinning ceremony held May 14 at MATC’s Cooley Auditorium.
“We go to nursing school to make a difference,” Jimenez told her fellow graduates. “We all should be the nurse that you would want to care for you.”
“Receiving your pin is the most special moment in a nurse’s career,” said Dr. Annette Ries, director of MATC’s nursing programs. “It’s a chance when we can welcome our students as colleagues.”
After the event, Jimenz said she was “shocked and proud” to speak at her graduation ceremony. “It was such a great opportunity,” she said.
That opportunity almost never happened. Jimenez grew up the youngest of five siblings. Her parents went their separate ways after she was born, so she spent her childhood going back and forth between two homes.
None of her older siblings graduated from high school. During her freshman year at Milwaukee Public Schools’ South Division High School, Jiminez failed a class.
“I really didn’t have the right people around me,” she recalled. “But when I failed that class, a switch flipped inside me. Something happened that motivated me to be better.”
Jimenez graduated from high school in 2019 with a GPA of 3.6. She started classes at MATC in the fall of 2019 and became a certified nursing assistant, an entry-level role that supports patients and nurses.
She worked at hospitals and nursing homes while taking a few classes at a time at MATC never carrying more than nine hours a semester. For the past three years, she has been a patient service representative for Aurora Urgent Care in Milwaukee. “Everything I learned in the classroom I used daily while working,” Jimenez said. “Everything we’re taught is accurate.
She completed her coursework in Spring 2024.
“It has been five years, but I’m going to keep going,” she said. “I guess I haven’t taken a break from school or studying. I take classes in summer, over winter break. I love learning.”
She plans to return to MATC to earn an associate degree in nursing and then get a bachelor’s degree.
“I’m super proud of what I have been able to accomplish and to be the first in my family to graduate from high school and college,” she said. “I know that they are proud of me, and I know that they support me. They all know that this is something I have always wanted.”
Learn about MATC’s Practical Nursing program
About MATC: Wisconsin’s largest technical college and one of the most diverse two-year institutions in the Midwest, Milwaukee Area Technical College is a key driver of southeastern Wisconsin’s economy and has provided innovative education in the region since 1912. More than 30,000 students per year attend the college’s four campuses and community-based sites or learn online. MATC offers affordable and accessible education and training opportunities that empower and transform lives in the community. The college offers more than 180 academic programs — many that prepare students for jobs immediately upon completion and others that provide transfer options leading to bachelor’s degrees with more than 40 four-year colleges and universities. Overwhelmingly, MATC graduates build careers and businesses in southeastern Wisconsin. The college is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission.
