Maria Schollmeyer, senior nursing and Applied Critical Thought and Inquiry major, has accepted a job with St. Luke’s East Hospital and will be working in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) assisting infants in critical condition.

In high school, Schollmeyer did a pre-professional nursing program and shadowed at St. Luke’s East in the NICU unit. Ever since, Schollmeyer knew she wanted to return.

“I fell in love with it. I remember going home and telling my mom that I want to work there someday,” said Schollmeyer.

Three years later, Schollmeyer is indeed going back and will be doing what she considers her dream job.

“I’ve known for a long time that I’ve wanted to work at St. Luke’s, and so it’s really cool to see that dream come into fruition [sic],” said Schollmeyer.

Initially, there was not supposed to be a position open at the St. Luke’s East NICU. When Schollmeyer expressed her interest in the NICU – among other critical care floors – during the interview process, she was informed that they were not hiring in that department at that time, but they would give her the opportunity to meet with them anyway.

Though there wasn’t supposed to be a position open in the unit, the conversation revolved around the NICU in Scholmeyer’s interview.

“The next thing I know they just start talking about NICU stuff which was kind of bizarre since there wasn’t supposed to be an open spot,” said Schollmeyer.

Before and during Schollmeyer’s interview, the conversation also turned to her research project about Kangaroo Care, a form of developmental care involving direct contact when a newborn is placed skin-to-skin on a mom or dad, which she did for the William Jewell College nursing symposium.

“We were just talking about my project when we were waiting for the interview to start and we talked about it more during my interview. I think it kind of showed how serious and how passionate I was about the NICU and the time and effort I was able to put into it and the opportunity to do a project on it through Jewell’s nursing department,” said Schollmeyer.

The morning after her interview, Schollmeyer was offered a position in the NICU department at St. Luke’s East.

“I accepted right then and didn’t have to apply anywhere else because I got my dream job,” said Schollmeyer.

Schollmeyer gives credit to the Jewell Nursing department and her professors who supported her throughout her time at Jewell and through her application process.

“Specifically shoutout to Professor Patty Richter because she was my sponsor for my Kangaroo Care project – she was also my OB professor and she taught me what I know about the NICU stuff,” said Schollmeyer. “They [the nursing department] are all really great support for me, and I just think that having them back me helped me stand out a little bit more to get the opportunity.”

In the NICU, Schollmeyer will be taking care of newborn babies who may have some complications or need more care because they were born prematurely. She will get to help deliver babies and assist in that area as well.

For Schollmeyer, to be the support for those babies and their parents in those first moments is a privilege.

“You know having a baby, in general, is such a vulnerable time for any parent and to find out that you might have a baby that has to stay a little longer or may go off plan –  it’s just a really vulnerable time. I really think it is a privilege to have to opportunity to be there for the family and parents in those first few moments of life for those babies and being able to care for them and be their support system and their advocate,” said Schollmeyer.

Schollmeyer expressed that she feels well equipped for her future in nursing due to the challenging and immersive nature of Jewell’s nursing program.

“From the moment you start nursing school, you hit the ground running with clinical – you start fundamentals in your first nursing class, and you’re in a clinical scene. I think it’s really great that they got us out there because you can only learn as much as you can from textbooks,” said Schollmeyer. “It’s important to know obviously the different illnesses and diseases and how to care for people on paper, but getting into that clinical scenario and physically getting to touch and see things and do things is so different. The fact that we get that extra time there is so incredible.”

Jewell’s nursing program allows students to experience all different variations of specialties, unlike some schools where students have to pick and choose.

“I’m thankful that Jewell’s nursing department gave us the opportunity to experience everything, we didn’t have to make those tough choices because we literally got to experience everything and really get to make an educated decision about what we are passionate about so I’m thankful for that,” said Schollmeyer.

“I would like to improve my time, especially in the 1659 and 1000 freestyle. I am close to an NCAA B-cut in the 1000 and would like to get closer to that. I am also working towards my kick and stroke technique,” Beckley said.

However, for Beckley work doesn’t stop once she gets out of the pool. She is a full time Nursing student here at Jewell. Her passions include helping people and providing compassionate care for individuals in their most vulnerable states. She recently began her first clinical experience and shared how she manages two practices a day and finding time for her studies.

“Late nights, lots of coffee, naps and setting my priorities straight. My biggest challenges are balancing everything and finding time for myself to just have fun, but that is when you need to make your sport more fun and let it become an outlet for release,” said Becky.

This summer Beckley hopes to work as nursing tech at a local hospital in order to gain more experience in the nursing field. In terms of swim, she shared her hopes for improving this summer.

“I want to work on my aerobic base more for this next season and improve my freestyle technique to be more efficient.”

In her free time, she loves crafting and is even starting to create a small side business selling homemade personalized jewelry. She wants to work on the business more this summer while she has a break from her schoolwork. Beckley named the business Atman Jewelry and has created it in order to instill peace and mindfulness in every individual who wears one of her products.

“It’s an amazing activity to help me unwind from stress and I love that I can promote peace in others when they wear it,” said Beckley

Beckley is an example of a motivated athlete who is dedicated, works hard and dedication, and helps anyone in need with a compassionate smile and hug.

While most individuals work a monotonous nine to five desk job, the life of nurse can constitute practically anything. Even trying to explain your work life to your spouse or significant other can be hard. When they ask what you did at work, how do you articulate your day’s events? You may have started the heart of a flatilining patient, delivered a baby, provided comfort to a dying patient or made a person suffering from a traumatic injury laugh again.

With this profession comes insurmountable joy. The ability to save lives is what drives every nurse to show up to work and provide the greatest amount of quality care that they can. However, along with this privilege comes behind the scenes battles that no one except our fellow nurses will ever be able to comprehend. They understand when a patient dies unexpectedly or how a small error could alter the trajectory of a life. There are daily struggles of stress and anxiety. We juggle every area of our lives so that others don’t notice our fatigue. These examples are only merely touching the surface of the challenges of nursing.

Constantly providing selfless acts is a difficult virtue to develop. We put the care of our patients before our own and do it without ever needing recognition or acknowledgement. Sometimes, we endure verbal abuse from families or disoriented patients and have to smile and move on with our day. Nursing is an extremely physical job, but we push through discomfort to provide quality care to our patients.

With all of the challenges, however, comes a profession full of the most rewarding situations and experiences. The lives that nurses get to impact and heal make every difficult situation worth it. We thrive on making a patient smile and knowing that, if even for a few moments, we were able to make someone more comfortable. The ability to heal or care for someone in their most vulnerable state is the most rewarding and humbling experience, and as nurses we wouldn’t trade that for anything.

Photo by Sofia Arthurs-Schoppe.

She shared her philosophy regarding her attitude towards any patients she encounters.

“I try to bring my own positivity towards the patient. They’re often in their most powerless state, so I try to make it my mission to lift them up and make what they’re going through a little easier,” she said.

Simpson values the personal connections that are made between the caring and the cared for.

“I struggle to care for patients in hospitals that I know I’ll never see again. I want to know what’s happened to someone once I’ve become invested in caring for them,” she said.

Simpson plans to move out of Kansas City after she graduates next May, hoping to gain some new life experiences and perspectives after living in the same area most of her life.

All photos taken by Harper Vincent