While she is still working her way toward earning a degree in nursing, Southwestern Michigan College student Christina Lai has already more than earned her stripes when it comes to crisscrossing the globe.

As a child, she and her family relocated from their home in Vietnam to the bright sun, clear waters and scenic beaches of the Aloha State. In spite of having to learn a new language and a new way of life in the U.S., Lai quickly came to embrace Hawaii as her home.

So, when she decided to cross the Pacific once again to move to Indiana, her experience came in handy.

“I am used to changes,” Lai said. “It was a really good change coming here, too.”

Moving in with her aunt and uncle, Lai completed her senior year at Penn High School in Mishawaka before deciding to continue her studies at SMC in Dowagiac.

“My uncle told me about this college,” she said. “It is a real convenient choice, with the dorms here on campus. It has a good nursing program, and the class sizes are pretty small.”

For Lai, who is currently living in one of the college’s residence halls, going to SMC gives her the chance to pursue a degree in nursing, a career field she has been interested in since she was a child, she said.

“I get to help people,” Lai said. “I also want to be able to understand what makes people develop illnesses, since it has had a major effect on my family. It is something I am passionate about.”

The death of her grandfather, who succumbed to lung infection in 2007 due mainly to the poor conditions of the Vietnamese hospital where he received treatment, is what first sparked Lai’s interested in health care  — and was the catalyst that prompted her family to relocate the U.S.

Spending years living in and going to school on the island of Maui in Hawaii, Lai eventually moved across the country to Indiana in order to receive a better education, she said.

While of course the weather is a whole lot different in Michiana versus Hawaii, going to school in a quiet town like Dowagiac has allowed her better focus on her studies. With the college’s nursing program’s strict requirements to enter, her work has to be up to par, Lai said.

“At SMC, with the really small classroom sizes, you get to know the teachers better,” she said. “You can build a relationship so that if you ever hit rock bottom you have someone you can turn to get help.”

Lai still finds time to hang out with friends in between classes and homework, often traveling to St. Joseph or Mishawaka to get a bite to eat or to go shopping

With her little sister, Angelina, also planning to move to Indiana next year, Lai is planning to stick around the area after wrapping up her studies at SMC, looking to complete her bachelor’s degree at a four-year university in the area before looking for a job close to her new home.

“I love it here,” she said.