Marianna Sblendorio wants to honor those who helped her sick grandmother. Isaiah Evan Belk looks to make positive impacts on the lives of others. And Haichatou Sall wishes to be a part of something bigger than herself.
Each of the 65 graduates in the first cohort to complete the four-year bachelor’s in nursing at St. Joseph’s College have one thing in common: a commitment to serve.
Last spring, 31 students from SJC Long Island and 34 from SJC Brooklyn received four-year nursing degrees.
I decided to become a nurse with the hopes of helping many people and giving back — just like the nurses who helped me.” –Kimberly Colon ’19
Studying in State-of-the-Art Labs
Established in fall 2015, the four-year nursing program gives students the tools needed to lead successful nursing careers. And with the creation of the College’s state-of-the-art nursing lab in fall 2017, the inaugural class had the chance to practice their new skills before entering the field — through the use of such technology as high-fidelity patient simulators, which allow nursing students to prepare for situations they’ll very likely encounter in hospitals and other medical facilities.
“It is a stressful decision to commit oneself to caring for and helping others,” said SJC Long Island graduate Danielle Monteverde, who landed a job at Mather Hospital in Port Jefferson, New York, splitting time between the telemetry and step down units. “SJC has reached and exceeded the expectations we had when we enrolled; we were given the chance to prepare for our career by showing us what we will face in the real world.”
Throughout their time at St. Joseph’s, nursing students completed impressive internships and hospital rotations. And in 2017 and 2018, a handful of students from the program received invitations to Northwell Health’s Golden Ticket Nursing Showcase — only open to juniors and seniors — where they met high-level administrators and networked with nurses and other Northwell Health staff.
Ready to Serve
Though they all have different reasons for pursuing a career in nursing, the group of St. Joseph’s graduates stand passionate and ready to serve in the field of health care.
SJC Long Island’s Lizabeth Canas, a first-generation college graduate, hopes to land a job at North Shore University Hospital.
“About seven or eight years ago, my father was admitted there for open heart surgery,” she said. “That was the number-one reason why I was interested in nursing.”
Anne Marie Duval’s inspiration to become a nurse came from growing up in Haiti.
“Because of the poor health care, I always wanted to help in some way,” said the SJC Long Island graduate, who wants to be a labor and delivery nurse. “I want to go back (to Haiti) and see if I can make a change.”
Kimberly Colon decided to study nursing at SJC Brooklyn after spending most of her life in hospitals.
“After years of struggling physically and mentally, I found myself always going back and thinking of the nurses who cared for me,” said Ms. Colon, who was diagnosed with fibromyalgia and/or Lyme disease. “I decided to become a nurse with the hopes of helping many people and giving back — just like the nurses who helped me.”
In the future, Ms. Colon plans to pass the NCLEX and become a family nurse practitioner — and one day open her own practice.
