Student Spotlight – Meet Nick Baker









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Nick Baker
Education is one of the four pillars of UNMC’s mission, and our students are the lifeblood of that aspect of campus life.

In UNMC Today’s Student Spotlight, we get to know some of these students, who will become tomorrow’s health care professionals. Today we meet:.

  • Name: Nick Baker
  • Hometown: Boise, Idaho
  • Program: Cytotechnology/first year

List three songs on your playlist.

  • “Choose Your Battles,” by Katy Perry.
  • “Alive,” by Krewella.
  • “Animal I Have Become,” by Three Days Grace.

What sparked your interest in cytotechnology?
My interest in cytotechnology was sparked when I was working as a gross technician in Boise, Idaho. I have a love for lab work and the idea of being able to go to work every day to save lives by finding precancerous and cancerous cells. I knew that cytotechnologist was what I wanted the next step in my career to be. Roughly one week before classes started, I contacted Amber Donnelly, Ph.D., director of the cytotechnology program, to inquire about applying in 2014, I was informed that there was a last-second drop out from the entering class of 2013. I scrambled my application, medical information and paperwork and had everything finalized four days before classes started. I packed my bags on Friday, drove 18 hours on Saturday and prepared myself for studies on Monday. My wife, blessed be her soul, packed our belongings and moved herself as well as our 3-year-old, dog and cat five weeks later.

Your favorite study snack is:
Mountain Dew and Cheerios.

Your favorite app is:

Pandora.

Three things people may not know about you:

  • We are beyond excited to welcome our second child, Lucas James Baker, into the world in April 2014!
  • I’ve been attacked by a squirrel.
  • I have two pieces of pencil lead stuck in my right hand from sixth grade.