Hello! My name is Bella-Rene Bugarin, and I’m currently in my second year at Old Dominion University (ODU). Prior to attending Old Dominion, I studied choir and music theory at the Visual Performing Arts Academy (VPAA) at Salem High School. Growing up, I was exposed to music every single day. Most of the time, the music came from my living room as my Filipino family gathered to sing karaoke for the thousandth time, so naturally I fell in love with singing and performing. This essentially influenced my choice to attend the VPAA; however, after graduating from high school, I quickly found myself becoming more intrigued and drawn to the medical field. After several tragic passings in my family, I knew that I wanted to help people in the way that my family’s nurses helped us.

After careful consideration, I am proud to say that I am a Nursing major and Psychology minor at ODU, and my dream is to become a Family Nurse Practitioner or a Physician Assistant. Specifically for this semester, my goal is to stay motivated as I tackle my online classes and to practice better studying habits. I also hope to join various extracurricular activities in order to meet new people who share the same hobbies and interests as me, even if that means doing it over Zoom meetings!

Even though Social Psychology is a requirement for my minor, I’m taking this course simply because it can be applied to my everyday life. This course can help me understand why my behavior is different around various groups of people and why I’m fascinated with certain individuals in my life. Along with Social Psychology, I find Developmental Psychology and the role it plays in personality and identity formation intriguing. Nevertheless, psychology and all of its branches are extremely interesting to me, and I look forward to learning more about the mind and its impacts on various aspects of this beautiful life!