No Better Time to Build a Better Future
After a Fire Tore Through Her Building, This NYSCAS Medical Imaging Student Keeps Pushing Forward
In the worst months of the Covid-19 pandemic effects of New York, Ambrya Dingle, a first-year student in New York School of Career and Applied Studies' (NYSCAS) Medical Imaging program, was hit with another tragedy: a fire tore through the public housing building where she lived with her three children.
“We lost all of our food and we had to move into a Red Cross hotel for a few nights. The New York City Housing Authority then transferred us into a different apartment,” said Dingle.
Even before the pandemic, the year had been difficult for Dingle. Dingle’s mother was rushed through an emergency lung surgery and was recuperating. “The doctor who saved her life later died from Covid-19. Three of her neighbors died from Covid-19, too.”
“It was not an easy year,” Dingle reflected.
What kept her going was her dream to become a medical imaging technician and help people. “I knew that I wanted to be a part of the medical community and serve people in need,” she said. “I wanted a better future for my children and me.”
Dingle managed to attend her classes online, sitting on some of the few bits of furniture the family managed to save from the fire. (She joked that she’s been learning to put things together through DIY methods and is very grateful for YouTube and Home Depot.) Despite it all, Dingle said she hasn’t lost a bit of her optimism for her future.
“I hope my experience will inspire others to understand that there is no better time than right now to do something to improve our lives,” she concluded. “Education, in my opinion, is what will help improve my life. No matter how difficult the challenges we face are, if we have faith, we can change our future—starting from this very moment.”
