Graduation 2020

Final Remarks from Table 12

I feel conflicted writing to you, my graduating class. Through my work in behavioral health, I have come to explore conflict through the lens of dialectics—a concept that multiple truths can coexist at the same time and yet remain in opposition with one another. For example, I like the idea of icebergs, and I never want to hear about one again. It is with this lens of balancing opposing ideas/feelings that I look at these remarks. I acknowledge that we all individually had expectations of pomp and big Badger nurse pride with this changing season and our worlds have shifted. I feel the genre of graduation speech may not fit for us this year and I think that’s okay— these are unprecedented times, so I’ve been told. This leaves me in my typical disposition of putting on my table microphone and winging it. Bear with me.

I sit here in my newfound office/gym/bedroom/Zoom call-center thinking about COVID-19. A virus that has spread and captured all our attention. Between daily, sometimes hourly, news updates, I read about the people on the “front.” I see photos of doctors, delivery workers, politicians, and nurses. It’s the nurses that stick out to me, obvs. As my close friends like to tell me, I am almost a nurse—but not yet.

I see photos of these nurses covered head to toe in PPE, and I strain to think about the proper order they put these items on and take them off only to place their mask in a paper bag. “Are the gloves first on or last off?” This familiar line of self-doubt, a fun new companion in nursing school which keeps me up at night trying to remember the difference between purpura and petechiae. I defer on my original PPE question and keep thinking about the nurses in these photos. Nurses that act as both a shield and shelter, an ally and a champion for their patients who no longer get a visitor at their side. The tradition of a nurse with their patient living on.

A photo of my grandmother in her crisp white nurse’s cap hangs near my bed and reminds me of the photos in Cooper Hall. Having had this time away from SSCH, I think about how we all moved in sync between classes as if choreographed. I think about the Revive Café runs, the Kahoot quizzes, the IPE’s, the southwest salad bar at the hospital, the online shopping, the med math exams, even the attendance quizzes—today is Tuesday: true! From the safety of my home, I am so grateful to have had time together as a class. Time to learn, vent, question, and ask what does good, better, best even mean and why isn’t “apply the nasal cannula at 2L” right?!

As time takes us forward and we move through this graduation season, I want us to take a moment and appreciate how far we have come. From the prerequisites that made us check the syllabus for “passing” criteria, to the very shaky first IV with a brave participant, we have undoubtedly become better and safer nurses. Our many hours of lectures, clinicals, and slideshows awarded us the proverbial “nurse brain”: an optimal balance between reason, judgment, and sleep deprivation. To my professors and clinical instructors, thank you for your patience, willingness, and more patience in getting us all to this point. To my peers, I want to say that I am so grateful that the triple threat of Typhon, Examplify, and Elsevier are soon behind us and that we all can get to work as essential workers. From Zachary James Smith at Table 12, I want to say thank you and stay strong.

Congratulations, Badger nurses.

Hello family, friends, nursing school staff, and the incredible Accelerated Bachelor of Science in Nursing program graduates. My name is Natalie and I am excited and honored to be able to share some words as this whirlwind of a year comes to an end. I feel like in the ABSN program especially, it is really important to stop and thank the people who guided us through this year and supported us.

In regards to our family and friends, we as students made this giant life changing commitment, and just took our people by the collar and drug them with us. The meals, hangouts, and happy distractions meant more to us than you probably know. We thank you, and we probably owe you a drink.

To our dynamic, supportive, inspiring staff: thank you! We did our fair share of challenging you this year, but no matter what, you always had our backs and best interests in mind. You gave us the gift of knowledge, patience, and kindness, and for that, we are forever grateful. Thank you.

To my classmates! Hi, I’ve missed you! I want you to know how fascinated, challenged and inspired I am by all of you. You each taught me a little something this year, and most notably, were a beautiful reminder of just how diverse and complex the nursing profession can be. Being a nurse is the coolest job! I’ll forever get to say that I share this title and purpose with each of you, and that is a great honor. A lot of this year, for me at least, was thinking one week at a time — one day at a time, really! It was the tangible solution to such an accelerated pace. Now, we have the great pleasure of looking back on the long days and seeing one big picture. One story of “the year of nursing school,” and most importantly, one future career as a nurse ahead of us!

Whether the year flew by to you, seemed to drag on, or was just right — you did it! You made it! You did the thing. You committed your time, energy, finances, and all the crazy stuff in between for this one thing called Nursing. Let’s celebrate that! Nursing is something to be so proud of, and I am proud of you guys. My classmates, my friends, my little year-long family. I will miss your smiles, conversation, and intelligence that filled the lecture halls every day. I wish you all the best of luck on your future endeavors, and On Wisconsin.

When we were first asked, “why do you want to be a nurse?”, I can imagine we all had similar elements to our response. We might have had a family member in need or a defining experience that drove us to the field more quickly, but the common element of ‘wanting to help’ was persistently present. Why is that? There are many other fields that ‘want to help’ as well; there must have been something else that brought us to nursing. To answer that question, I think it would be prudent to ask, “What does it mean to be a nurse?” Caring, selfless, resilient, intelligent. Those are some adjectives that come to mind; however, those do not seem to truly encapsulate what a nurse is to me. Some of you may end up working in OB, some in an ICU setting, as well as other hospital settings, whereas, some of you may even decide to work in a school, nursing home, or another public setting. There will be a variety of locations that we will find ourselves in, soon; yet, to use a cliché, the essence of nursing will always follow us.

To briefly summarize my journey to nursing, I want to reference a defining experience in my life. Several years ago, one of my close high school friends was climbing the third highest peak in the world when a storm took to the mountain as he, and his climbing partner, neared the summit. Ultimately, the storm proved to be fatal for the two of them. As I processed his death, I realized that he had reached true potential at such a young age by living experientially. He was a pilot, had rode his bicycle across the U.S., and backpacked across Europe; just to name a few of his accomplishments. The way he lived his was very inspiring to me and helped instill a drive to ‘do something more than myself’ within me. I started to do anything that would bring that sense of fulfillment. That moment led me to my Associate Degree in nursing, as I felt I was helping others and doing something more than myself.

Now, fast-forward to about a year ago when I initially had started the BSN@Home program, I had been a practicing nurse for some time, and I had known that figurative doors may be opened by pursuing a BSN. I was skeptical as to what else I could have learned, though, since my Associate’s program had taught me the basic skills of nursing. What else could there be right?

My initial courses had reinforced nursing theories, as well as concepts behind research, quality improvement, and public health. After these first few courses I thought to myself, “What on earth did I get myself into? When am I going to actually use these topics?”. For instance, I am an inpatient behavioral health nurse here in Madison, and truthfully, I don’t know if I am going to consciously reference a nursing theory when I need to emergently maintain patient safety in crisis. However, as time progressed, I did start to see elements of these theories in my daily work. Initially, it might have been in an instance or two that resembled Watson’s theory of caring; followed by a quality improvement project that saw patient benefit, or some other event over the course of a shift.

As time progressed, the concepts being taught gradually became more and more evident; however, the recent COVID-19 crisis has solidified the concepts of the nursing profession to me.  A specific example of this was during a charge nurse meeting where I listened to a story of a nurse caring for a dying patient, on a COVID unit, that suggested use of an iPad to help satisfy the basic psychosocial needs of the patient and their family. Despite a global pandemic, this nurse demonstrated an ability to critically, and holistically, think.

Constantly thinking of how to provide comfort, and to be of service to someone else’s basic human needs, are hallmarks of the nursing profession. Every single person graduating today has that basic instinct instilled within them; and after some time thinking about what it means to be a nurse, I believe I have my answer. Nurses are…. we are…you are…resilient, selfless, holistic critical thinkers that attempt to be of service to others in their time of need. Each one of you will bring your individual perspective on how to apply that concept to your work, and I promise you that every life you touch will thank you for that.

I want to thank you for everything you have done and will do. I would also like to take this time to congratulate you and welcome you all to the nursing profession. I look forward to practicing alongside you.

“The One Where We Became Doctors and a Family”

Hello and welcome everyone!

First, let me start off by thanking Dean Scott, DNP program Director, Dr. Pam McGranahan, all of our wonderful faculty, and the DNP cohort for the honor of speaking with you today.

In preparation for graduation and becoming a nurse practitioner, I read a great book reflecting on how to stop doubting yourself and your greatness and start living an awesome life. Author Jen Sincero states, “You are loved. Massively. Ferociously. Unconditionally. The Universe is totally freaking out about how awesome you are.” And so am I. I am so extremely proud of each and every one you. I am disappointed that we are not able to be present together today, hugging, and taking pictures in our caps and gowns. However, the current pandemic and state of healthcare does not lessen the outstanding accomplishments we all have made over the past several years.

Speaking of accomplishments, we have been through quite a bit together on this crazy journey we call, graduate school. From first day jitters, extremely long lecture days, numerous case studies, and even the dreaded OSCE. In addition, together we have celebrated engagements, weddings, and babies. We have also suffered together through the tough times, mourned the loss of loved ones, and even supported one another through the occasional emergency appendectomy. And as we know in nursing, team work makes the dream work. And I cannot think of a better “team” to have navigated this journey and dream with. You guys are my team, my friends, and now my colleagues.

I would be remiss if we did not take the time to acknowledge and thank our many professors at the School of Nursing and our clinical preceptors who have guided us to this day. Your wisdom and clinical pearls are invaluable and we thank you for sharing them with us. We also thank you for your guidance and patience as well as request your forgiveness for the incessant emails and clarifying questions about the OSCE, cumulative quizzes, and our scholarly projects.

As I look upon our entire cohort I see many things. I see acute care and primary care. I see pediatrics and mental health. I see parents and nurses. I see sons and daughters. I see husbands and wives. But most importantly, I see healthcare leaders in all of you. Our education and experience has equipped us all with the potential to make a real difference in healthcare as well as our future patients’ lives. I am humbled to think about the incredible individuals I have had the opportunity to sit next to and grow with in this program.

So here’s to our extraordinary class, our remarkable faculty, and our patient loved ones who have understood the numerous graduate school lingo used throughout this speech because it is all we have talked about for the past several years.

I leave you with a quote from my favorite musical, WICKED. My cohort, friends, and colleagues, I can honestly say, “Because I knew you, I have been changed for good.” I am so grateful to call you my cohort, my friends, and now officially my fellow nurse practitioners. Congratulations DNP Class of 2020 and On Wisconsin!