Nursing Students Now Nursing Leaders
Nursing students are some of the most dedicated and hardworking students on campus. Every clinical, long night, and big exam moves each nursing student one step closer to becoming a certified healthcare worker. The seniors this year had a very unusual semester to overcome. But they are ready to launch into the world as christian nurses.
Alyssa Turcotte
“I thought that being a nurse simply meant having medical knowledge and performing nursing skills,” says Alyssa. “I now understand the importance of all aspects of a person including their physical, psychosocial, and spiritual wellbeing.” During her time in the program, she learned that God can use nursing mightily.
Through the rigors of nursing school, Alyssa also met health challenges of her own. But God brought her to completion of her degree in his perfect timing. This summer, she will work as a camp nurse at the Wilds of New England before returning home to Wisconsin to nurse in a local hospital.
Shani Caves
Also a native of Watertown, Shani says that her time in nursing school gave her the confidence to step outside her comfort zone and gain confidence. “There were many times I felt that I couldn’t do it, I wasn’t smart enough, and I could never pass my classes,” she says. “But time and time again God proved Himself faithful and got me here to the end. It was a trying time for sure these last 4 years, but I believe wholeheartedly I am here because of God and His faithfulness to me.” While staying busy in the nursing department, Shani served in her church’s American Sign Language ministry. She was even able to use this skill while ministering at Camp Joy last summer.
After graduation, Shani will begin working at Oconomowoc Memorial Hospital and looks forward to marrying her fiancé, Jonathan, in August.
Abby Dosson
Hailing from Nampa, Idaho, Abby says she couldn’t have completed nursing school without the love and support of the nursing faculty, her extension church, and friends and family from her home church. After college, she and her husband, Dakota, also an MBU nursing graduate, will move to Montana to work at an area hospital.
“I am excited to start this new chapter in our lives because I will be able to actually start practicing as a registered nurse, and we have always wanted to move back out West and minister with a church out where the need is truly great.”
Her advice to future nursing students? “Find a church you can call family, and dive in.”
Allyson Brimer
The greatest way she grew during college was in her love for people. Allyson says, “I lived off campus in a home for disabled individuals and through this I learned more about myself and God’s love than I even knew I could. I recognized God’s love for everyone is so vast and far beyond my capabilities, but I learned that his love could shine through me. I learned how I could show the love of God to each and every person I come in contact with, and especially to my patients and their families.”
Through the challenges of balancing a rigorous nursing program and a collegiate volleyball schedule, she learned to trust God’s plan and not her own through the toughest of times. Through her off campus work with elderly adults, Allyson found a family when her own was miles away in Virginia. She will return to her hometown of Roanoke in the summer, pass the NCLEX, and work as an RN at Carillion Roanoke Memorial Hospital, a level one trauma center and teaching hospital.
Ellen Anderson
“Nursing creates opportunities to share God’s love. This opportunity is the main reason I am excited to be a nurse,” says Ellen. Through heavy books, hard tests, and early mornings, Ellen grew greatly both spiritually and personally. “Nursing school helped me grow in interpersonal communication, critical thinking, perseverance, and decision making.” In the MBU nursing program, she learned to view each person as a human being made in the image of God. Even in difficult situations with difficult people, Jesus calls us to have compassion on all people.
Ellen says, “My favorite verse in nursing school was Isaiah 26:12 “LORD, thou wilt ordain peace for us: for thou also hast wrought all our works in us.” After graduation, Ellen plan to work in an adult/pediatric medical-surgical unit. She hopes to eventually get a master’s degree and become a nurse practitioner.
Anna Rossiter
In a program that stretches students mentally and spiritually, Anna focused on service and taking the next step. “You have to learn how to deal with difficult patients and yet still show them compassion. Spiritually, I have learned to trust God more and to seek His Will during trying times,” she says.
During the busiest year of nursing school, Anna served as an RA, ran collegiate cross country, and got engaged. Though these responsibilities often ended in late nights and early mornings, God gave her the strength to persevere. She says, “I give Him all the glory for sustaining me during the long hours, critical moments, and emotionally draining times.”
Anna tells future nursing students to take the semester week by week and focus on ministry. “Ministry is one of the best ways to take a break from the schedule of school and be refreshed by taking your eyes off yourself and focusing on others.” She and her husband, James, will remain in Watertown for the next few years serving as Dorm Parents in Spurgeon dorm. Anna will work as a medical-surgical nurse at Oconomowoc Memorial Hospital after graduation.
Grace Jensen
Throughout nursing school, Grace Jensen says she has a new awe for life. “Throughout my clinical, I’ve gotten to both hold the hand of a woman in labor and a man in the last few hours of his life. It really makes you step back and look in awe at the miracle of life,” she say. In addition, Grace watched as the godly examples of other girls in her dorm and faculty members taught her how to value people.
She encourages younger nursing students to have a strong support system when going into the rigorous program. “If you walk into nursing school thinking you can handle it on your own, you are never going to make it. Turn to God, your family, and your classmates.” Grace and her husband, Keith, have both accepted nursing positions in Saginaw, Michigan. Keith will work in the Neuro-Intensive Care Unit and Grace will work in Neuro-progressive care.
Grace says, “This is what God has called me to do, and I have already seen through clinical how much of an impact I can have in the lives of others. I cannot wait to impact even more lives through this awesome ministry!”