P22
September 2013
Chuck De La Riva, who graduated from GCU in August, hopes to open his own
health care clinic someday. Photo by Darryl Webb
– by Bob Romantic
Fast-track nursing grad knows what
he wants from life
C
huck De La Riva
knew at a young age how important education was to his
future.
So he did what any hard-working, ambitious student would do: He dropped out
of high school at age 15 in the middle of his sophomore year.
Really.
That was four years ago. Today, De La Riva is a graduate of Grand Canyon
University’s College of Nursing and Health Care Professions, was chosen to speak
at GCU’s commencement ceremonies in May and is president of the Arizona
Student Nurses Association.
“I don’t know if it was simply a product of impatience or feeling like I could do
more with myself, but I didn’t feel like high school catered to my needs,” said De
La Riva. “I guess I was expediting the inevitable. I wanted to get into the workforce
as soon as possible to maintain that financial stability.
“Family is very important to me and I look forward to starting my own family.
Obviously you have to be financially stable for that, and the earlier you start
the better.”
De La Riva got his first lesson in the importance of education while growing up
in inner-city Chicago. After his parents divorced, he was able to move in with his
father,
Charles Sr.
, but one of the stipulations was that he maintain good grades.
“That’s when I started to take education seriously,” De La Riva said. “Maybe, at that
age, I didn’t understand the long-term benefits, but the short-term benefits were
very important to me. …My father has always been the person in my life who not
only believed in me, but showed me the path to success was education.
“He made me who I am.”
De La Riva and his father later moved to Scottsdale, where he enrolled at Desert
Mountain High School and was accepted to study in the challenging International
Baccalaureate program. He was excelling in class but knew there was a different
path awaiting him.
“It was a very risky move,” De La Riva said of his decision to leave high school. He
talked with two of the teachers he respected most at Desert Mountain,
Samuel
Russell
and
Martin Butler
, and “both were very supportive of my plan and said
if anybody could do it, it would be me.”
So De La Riva left Desert Mountain, enrolled at Scottsdale Community College
and earned his GED after turning 16. His father had to return to Chicago, but
De La Riva got by on his own by working construction jobs while completing his
associate’s degree at SCC.
After the economy soured, De La Riva also switched majors, forgoing a degree in
international business to study nursing.
“I’m a risk-taker, but I’m a calculated risk-taker,” De La Riva said of his decision to
switch majors. “I knew the medical field was always very stable and nursing was
something that could be achieved relatively quickly.”
After extensive research on nursing schools, he knew GCU was the place for him
and signed up – of course – for the fast-track program that put him on course to
graduate by age 19. He plans to continue his education with a master’s degree at
GCU and one day hopes to open his own health care clinic.
During his coursework, he also found time to take advanced-level psychology
courses for his personal development. And he’s an avid reader of Eastern
philosophy. One of the philosophies that hits home for De La Riva is psychosocial
development, a concept made popular by
Erik Erikson
, who suggested there
are eight psychosocial stages that people enter during their life span.
“A lot of times, the socialization process has to do with numbers. You’re expected
to reach certain benchmarks by a certain age. I wanted to disparage some of
those misconceptions because a lot of times when that happens, people get
discouraged,” De La Riva said. “I believe in maturational readiness. When you are
ready, you have to know you are ready for whatever it is, whatever paradigm shift
is about to happen.
“And, really, if you know what you want for your life, for yourself or the people you
love, why would you wait until you are considered an adult?”
■
FROM AGE 19 …
alumni
