Nursing students receive scholarships for community service
COLUMBUS – The Mississippi Association of Student Nurses (MASN) awarded scholarships to two Mississippi University for Women students and to The W’s MASN chapter last month at its annual convention.
Renisha Tallie, a senior from West Point, won the essay contest for her piece on nursing stress and the importance of self-care during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Abby Stokes, a senior from Philadelphia, received a scholarship for her commitment to service in and out of the classroom.
The W’s MASN chapter won the $1,500 Nightingale School of the Year Scholarship that is awarded to the school of nursing that exemplifies a positive image of nursing through community service and school spirit.
Amy Mobley, an instructor in The W’s Department of Baccalaureate Nursing, praised the chapter and the students for their commitment to service.
“The students constantly surprise me with their ability to balance school and other responsibilities and to continue to find time to be active in the community,” Mobley said. “Even with COVID limiting our ability to complete our normal events, students still found a way to give back.
“Renisha and Abby are great students with a good attendance record who excel in and out of the classroom. Renisha is very patient and kind and will be the best patient advocate. Abby pro
vides selfless service to others and will go the extra mile to make her patients feel special.”
Tallie, who is seeking a Bachelor of Science in Nursing, has been enrolled at The W since the spring of 2019, which is when she finished her remaining prerequisites for The W’s BSN program. She previously attended East Mississippi Community College and Mississippi State University, where she earned a Bachelor of Science Degree in Biological Sciences in the spring of 2014. Tallie said she hoped to go into a healthcare profession after graduation but was undecided about the route she wanted to take, so she worked for a few years in customer service positions. She then decided she wanted to pursue a career in nursing and she selected The W for its nationally recognized nursing program, its affordability and proximity to her hometown.
Tallie said the topic of nursing stress and the importance of self-care in a pandemic interested her because she has seen in her clinical rotations how nurses’ feelings toward their jobs impact patient care. Her goal was to raise awareness about nurse burnout and the importance of protecting nurses’ physical, mental and emotional well-being.
“I was excited and filled with gratitude when I found out I received the scholarship,” Tallie said. “I am very grateful for MASN, donors and any other contributing party who made this scholarship possible.”
Tallie hopes to begin a career as a registered nurse at a hospital in the Golden Triangle area. She currently has an internship at a local hospital, and hopes it leads to a full-time registered nurse position after she graduates and passes The National Council Licensure Exam (NCLEX).
Tallie said she is interested is in women’s health, with a focus in postpartum nursing, and that she hopes to help reduce the occurrences of maternal mortality, which studies have shown to be more prevalent among black women.
“I decided to pursue nursing because I want to play an active role in the advancement of quality patient-centered care,” Tallie said. “I have a passion for helping others and treating them the way I would like to be treated, which requires selflessness and empathy.”
Stokes, who is enrolled in the Bachelor of Science in Nursing program, previously attended East Central Community College. She also serves as the community service chairman for The W’s Student Nurses Chapter, which is how she learned she received the scholarship.
“I had no idea I had been nominated, so it was a shock,” Stokes said. “The scholarship was nothing short of a blessing. I’m newly married and making ends meet on one income is extremely hard during a pandemic.”
Stokesstokes said her mother, who was a nurse, taught her at a very young age to do everything with a servant’s heart. She said her personality is very much like her mother’s in part because she watched her for years as she did what she loves best, which is serving her community by providing compassionate medical care and offering her respect and undivided attention to everyone. Because of her mother, Stokes said she was raised to have a tender heart and to empathize with everyone.
Stokes, who in 2019 placed second runner-up in Miss Mississippi’s Quality of Life competition for her work with Alzheimer’s, said her biggest accomplishment is her work with the Alzheimer’s Association, which she began working with while she competed in the Miss Mississippi Organization for two years. She said her grandmother, Georgia, passed away from the disease when she was a senior in high school and that she knew she wanted to honor her legacy by helping families who are experiencing similar challenges with loved ones diagnosed with Alzheimer’s.
Stokes donated almost $15,000 to her local hospital’s Alzheimer unit through multiple fundraisers and even held a Christmas event for the children of the community to decorate ornaments that were then placed on a Christmas tree at the nursing home. She also spoke to four schools and several organizations about prevention, signs and symptoms, management and ideas to change the stigma that surrounds the disease.
“I believe I have a calling to continue my work with Alzheimer’s,” Stokes said. “I love the time I spend with these people because although it is a devastating disease that causes so much pain, it’s amazing to watch families draw close to one another, to listen to the celebration of the life they lived, special moments shared and the love that never fades even when the memories do.”
Stokes hopes to work on an intensive care unit until she applies for graduate school to obtain her master’s degree in nursing. She said she would love to specialize in geriatrics and continue her work with dementia patients.
In addition to the work of Tallie and Stokes, Mobley said The W’s MASN chapter has been very active during the pandemic. She said students participated in the MUW Walk of Hope and Breast Cancer Awareness Event; provided monetary donations to the Alzheimer’s Association and a fellow student’s mother who was recently diagnosed with breast cancer; donated snacks to a local hospital’s hospice unit; donated toiletry items and new/gently used coats to the Junior Auxiliary of Tupelo’s annual coat drive; donated toys to a local hospital’s pediatric unit; assisted with COVID testing for W/MSMS students; partnered with a local university for a student health event and made other individual contributions/donations.