Antonia Foster and Alicia Davis, two Baptist Health Sciences University nursing students, recently received scholarships from national organizations.
Antonia was one of five Tennessee students who earned a $5,000 National Student Nurses Association scholarship. The money will go toward her studies during the summer and fall of 2014 and spring of 2015. She and the other 91 scholarship recipients nationwide were recognized during the National Student Nurses’ Association’s 62nd annual convention in Nashville, Tenn.
Alicia and three other nursing students won Landau Uniforms’ “Making Lives Better Scholarship” for student nurses in need. Winners of the $2,500 grant were determined based on their 500-800-word answers to the question, “What excites you most about becoming a nurse?” In Alicia’s words:
“There have been many times when I thought, ‘I just cannot do this thing called nursing school anymore.’ Then I arrive at the hospital and see the patient who just got their diagnosis of cancer, or that patient who just had their leg amputated, or the patient who died unexpectedly, and I reflect back on how irrelevant my tears seem. My patients will never realize how close, at times, I was to giving up on my dreams and how their smile, encouraging words, positive attitude, or developmental milestones in their recovery changed my world that day! My patients and their success are why I want to be a nurse.”