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Hayleigh Chidester and her dog Tinkerbell.
Taking inspiration from her mother’s health care career, Marietta High School senior Hayleigh Chidester has decided to follow in the same path.
Although she has yet to graduate, she has been accepted into The Ohio State University bachelor of science in nursing program.
Chidester, who will graduate this spring, has earned a 4.0 GPA in high school. She is the daughter of Erica Chidester of Marietta.
“My mom has been in health care, so I’ve been around it pretty much my whole life,” she said. “I got the opportunity to shadow at Marietta Memorial Hospital last summer and that showed me I wanted to be in that kind of environment. That was why I chose to get my STNA and start my career with health care with experience.”
At the age of 16, she earned her state tested nursing assistant certification through Washington County Career Center Adult Technical Training. Chidester said a STNA is a nursing assistant and she is working in that role at Belpre Landing.
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Hayleigh Chidester is a member of the Marietta High School girls basketball team.
Chidester is also a member of the National Honor Society and has been awarded the Ohio Governor’s Merit Scholarship.
This year she is a student at Marietta High School and she is in her second year as a student at Washington State College of Ohio, balancing the requirements to complete high school and college-level studies at the same time.
When she graduates from Marietta High School she will also receive her Associate of Science degree. At Washington State she had made the president’s list for classroom performance.
Outside of science classes, Chidester said some of her favorite classes include social studies.
“I like learning about history,” she said. “I also enjoyed psychology, I think it’s pretty interesting; how the brain works, what makes people do what they do. It’s definitely useful in nursing.”
At OSU she is looking forward to experiencing campus life in Columbus.
“It’s a lot bigger than Marietta and also the opportunities I can get there with the hospitals,” she said
She said she is looking forward to working with technology she has not seen .
“They just built a new hospital there,” she said. “They will have a lot of technology I will be able to see and work with in my career path.”
Chidester said after she earns her BSN degree, she plans to work in an Intensive Career Unit and then go beyond that by specializing as an anesthetist.
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Marietta High School student Hayleigh Chidester holds her certificate after being inducted into the National Honor Society.
“At Ohio State they have a CRNA program, which is a Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist,” she said. “That is the main reason I decided to go there, so I could be around their facilities so I could be prepared for grad school.”
Chidester said she learned about the field while job shadowing at Marietta Memorial.
“I shadowed a CRNA there and I got to observe a couple of surgeries,” she said, “I liked the surgery environment and I liked what she was doing, so I decided to look into that career.”
Chidester said as a nurse she looks forward to working to help others, which she calls her main reason for choosing the nursing field.
“As an aide I just love interacting with all the patients and the relationships,” she said. “Honestly that is the most important thing.”
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Hayleigh Chidester shows her love for The Ohio State University with her brothers Nathan and Westin. She said it’s always been her dream to attend Ohio State.
She participates in community service initiatives, provides peer tutoring as well. In addition to her academics she also represents her school on the basketball court.
Chidester is a four-year varsity letter-winning member of the Lady Tigers basketball team and has served as team captain. She has been playing basketball since she was 4 years old.
“I’ve played AAU since fifth grade,” she said, “I’ve been playing basketball year round. I played soccer, softball and other sports when I was younger but I decided I wanted to focus on basketball primarily.”
She said she is not planning to continue playing basketball at Ohio State.
“I want to focus on academics past high school.”
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Hayleigh Chidester attends an Ohio State football game with her brothers, Nathan and Westin, and mother Erica. It’s something the family does annually.
Chidester said for her long-range goals, she would like to stay close to the Marietta area, if possible.
“I’d like to get my start at some hospital, but not super far away, maybe like the Zanesville area,” she said. “If not, that’s fine.”
Getting her start in Columbus may be possible, she said.
“I may be able to get a job there pretty easily being a student there,” she said.
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Hayleigh Chidester, fourth from left, is pictured at her state-tested nursing assistant graduation at the Washington County Career Center.
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Hayleigh Chidester earned her state tested nursing assistant certification at the age of 16 through Washington County Career Center Adult Technical Training.
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Hayleigh Chidester is a member of the AAU Elite Team Ohio Future.
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Hayleigh Chidester, left, is pictured with her mom Erica, who has coached her in basketball and is her inspiration to pursue a nursing career.