Students who Shine: Brianna Candelaria
FORT LAUDERDALE -- Brianna Candelaria is in the eleventh grade at Fort Lauderdale High School and she has gained more experience for what life can dish out, than many adults.
One of her classes is Emergency Medical Response class, and she excels in it, according to her instructor.
"We identify and find life threats of a person (and) correct them," said teacher Bruce Evans. "We initiate first aid. We teach how to deliver babies, how to take care of traumas, gunshot wounds, trips and falls".
Evans spent 40 years working as an EMT and paramedic.
Evans also teaches first responder, dispatch, and EKG proficiency, and said his prized student is Brianna.
"She has honor. She has pride in herself and people around her," he said. "She has integrity. She's very loyal. She has great morals. She's courageous, courteous."
Brianna was bitten by the medical field bug when she was just 5 years old.
By the tender age of 6, her career path seemed to be cemented because off her life experience.
Her father was diagnosed with heart disease and other ailments that come along with it.
"He had heart disease and lung disease," she said. "He was a smoker (and) had a massive heart attack. It was very traumatic. It wasn't just something simple. It was in and out of the hospital for years and basically 'till his last breath."
That defining breath occurred by the time Brianna was 10 years old, and during that time she saw firsthand as people in the medical field work to take care of her dad.
She knew this would be her future.
"Being in this class, I realized I had the ability to make change," she said. "I have the ability to work in that field. And it's something I want to do. I want to be able to help people".
The class taught by Evans is Brianna's favorite, she said, and what motivates the straight-A student.\
She said it's what excites her when she wakes up in the morning.
Two years ago, Brianna lost her brother to opioids, which has added to her determination to help others.
"I've seen (and) I know what it looks like to see someone high and I found him overdose severely twice," Brianna said. "I didn't even fully accept his death yet. I don't think I ever well, but I will learn to live with it".
She sought refuge from life's pain with a focus on medicine and her love for animals, being a pet parent to a dog, cat, bunny and hamster.
It's that caring nature that one day could fuel her ambition to become a top notch nurse.