Lucy McKeon ’23 was in and out of the hospital in high school due to medical reasons. “My nurse was the main person who made a difference in my life during that period,” she says. “I realized I can be that person for someone else.”
Gianna Glover ’25 also felt the pull to help others. “I chose to go into nursing because I feel like I have a really compassionate heart and I truly like caring for people,” she says.
The kind hearted spirits of the two TCNJ nursing students have now each been awarded a scholarship from the New Jersey League for Nursing. Glover received the Dr. Maureen Sullivan Foley Memorial Scholarship Award and McKeon the Mary Ann Sharkey RN Memorial Scholarship Award.
Glover and McKeon were both recognized for their awards last month at the 2022 NJLN Scholarship Awards Event. Each student has demonstrated academic excellence, a commitment to their nursing education, and passion to become a nurse.
“Winning the scholarship has opened me up to a network of nurses all around New Jersey,” Glover said. “At the reception, it was nurses from different fields all over the state, so it helped me broaden my idea of what the career can be.”
The scholarships are in honor of prominent nurses from New Jersey, which really resonated with McKeon.
“This shows how much of an impact the nurses can have,” she says. “A nurse’s family created a scholarship in her honor to help further the education of other nursing students. It brings into perspective how important one person’s legacy can be on another.”
The NJLN Scholarship program is designed to aid with the nursing education of its members, supporting the goal of promoting nursing excellence through continuing education. The program is designed to meet the diverse needs of its members to provide support and recognize the commitment and importance of education at all levels.
— Kaitlyn Bonomo ’23