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Feature Article

Sisters in Scholarship

Meet Minority Nurse’s 2006 Scholarship Winners--Including Two Remarkable Siblings!

Oluwatoyin Abiodun
Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing
$1,000 Scholarship

Oluyemi Abiodun
Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing
$500 Scholarship

Fourth-year BSN students Toyin and Yemi Abiodun (as they are nicknamed) have a lot of things in common besides being sisters. They are both Dean’s List students in a very challenging nursing program (Yemi’s GPA is 3.8, Toyin’s is 3.6). They are both enrolled in the highly competitive Undergraduate Research Honors Program at Johns Hopkins, where they are laying the foundation for future careers as nurse scientists.

Last but not least, they are both actively involved in many community service projects, including volunteering at the Helping Up Mission in Baltimore, a non-profit organization that provides assistance to men with substance abuse problems. The sisters even collaborated on developing a smoking cessation program for the men at the mission. Yemi is also involved in health promotion activities at the Julie Community Center in East Baltimore and tutors students at a local inner city elementary school. Toyin volunteers at the House of Refuge women’s shelter, serves as a peer mentor to classmates and created the Roommate Link, a program that brings together nursing students seeking housing or roommates.

Nursing professors at Hopkins have nothing but praise for these two exceptional scholars. “As her faculty mentor in the Undergraduate Research Honors Program, I have observed that Toyin possesses the intellectual capacity, leadership skills and charisma to make an excellent transition from nursing school to the workforce,” says associate professor Dr. Marguerite L. Kearney. “She is a mature, self-motivated student with great leadership potential who consistently strives for superior academic achievement and excellence.”

As for Oluyemi, Dr. Victoria Mock, professor and director of the school’s Center for Nursing Research, describes her as “energetic, creative, very bright and highly motivated--one of our outstanding Undergraduate Research Honors students. She displays outstanding communication skills, excellent critical thinking ability and exceptionally high levels of motivation, energy and determination.” Adds Dr. Patricia Abbott, director of the PAHO/WHO Collaborating Center for Information Systems in Nursing Care, “She is a planner, a thinker, a strategizer and a leader. I think she is an exceptional student and a great human being.”

Irene Ochoa
University of Colorado at Denver and Health Sciences Center School of Nursing
$1,000 Scholarship

Like many nursing students, Irene Ochoa’s desire to become a nurse has roots in her childhood--and so does her realization of how important it is to provide culturally and linguistically competent care. “My family personally experienced the frustrations of having a language barrier when I was a young patient diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia,” she explains. “I had to undergo chemotherapy and exploratory surgery. My parents had many questions about the treatments and cancer that they could not always express because of the language barrier.”

As a result of this experience, she says, “I have a passion to work with diverse populations within my community and increase the diversity that is needed in the nursing profession.” Irene, who will graduate with her BSN degree in May, has turned that passion into action by volunteering extensively with her campus diversity office. As part of a “Minority Health Professions Opportunity Day” event, she led a hands-on workshop to introduce more than 40 high school students to the nursing profession. She is also active in community service, assisting with health career fairs and flu shot clinics and volunteering with Metro Kids, a program that provides services to children living in government housing.

Irene, whose long-term goal is to become a nurse practitioner, combines her commitment to cultural competency with exceptional academic skills. In May 2005, she earned a bachelor’s degree in biology from the University of Colorado, graduating with magna cum laude honors. Since beginning her nursing studies in summer 2005, she has achieved a cumulative GPA of 3.84.

“Irene’s varied experiences [in volunteer, academic and work activities] demonstrate breadth and depth far beyond the typical involvement of [students] in the undergraduate program,” comments Dr. Gayle Preheim, director of the university’s baccalaureate nursing program. “She is a leader among peers, consistently showing self-directed initiative, ability to reflect on her practice and a sense of ownership to improve herself and the School of Nursing community. Irene has developed a progressive pattern of responsible and visible leadership roles. . .where she has influenced teaching, learning, community and accountability for improving the world we live in.”

Jacqueline M. Glenn, RN
Pennsylvania State University, Shenango Campus
$500 Scholarship

When Jacqueline Glenn says that being a nurse has been her lifelong ambition, she means it literally. The 53-year-old RN from western Pennsylvania first applied to nursing school after graduating from high school in 1969. But she was denied admission to the program and had to abandon her dream--for 20 years! In 1989, her sister’s untimely death from a cerebral hemorrhage reawakened Jacqueline’s interest in nursing. She reapplied to the same nursing school, was accepted this time and graduated in 1991.

Since becoming an RN, this determined and persistent nurse has overcome many additional obstacles, including struggles with domestic violence, substance abuse and even a total right hip replacement. But through it all, Jacqueline has doggedly pursued her goals of advancing her career and continuing her professional education. For this non-traditional student, the path to the baccalaureate degree has been neither short nor smooth. But all her perseverance has finally paid off: She is scheduled to graduate from her BSN program this spring.

At Penn State Shenango, Jacqueline has maintained a solid 3.2 GPA while continuing to work as a clinical manager at Clepper Manor, a skilled nursing facility in Sharon, Pennsylvania. According to Wendy Hepler, RN, the facility’s director of nursing, “Jacqueline is very determined and she excels in all she does. Her heart is truly in nursing, [and it] shows in the way she cares for the residents at Clepper Manor. The residents, staff and families all appreciate the expertise she brings to this facility.”

Jacqueline’s community service involvement clearly demonstrates her ability to motivate and educate others. She has been a community activist, a senior health advocate and a registered life coach. She also teaches health literacy for seniors and has been a co-instructor in the Pennsylvania Nurses Aide Training Program. These recent experiences, she says, “have ignited a new goal (as age continues to creep up on me) to become a nurse educator. When--not if--I become an educator (I think that I shall wear purple) I would like to enjoy technology but [still retain] the human element in nursing.”