Near the beginning of her third and final semester in the year-long Accelerated BSN (ABSN) program at the University of Miami School of Nursing and Health Studies, Alyssa Francis opened an email while on a lunch break from her clinical placement.
“I was completely shocked,” she recalled. The email stated that she’d received the School’s new Gureghian Scholarship, an unexpected gift of $20,000 that made a “huge difference” for the Houston native.
Four other ABSN students in Francis’s class received similar happy surprises before graduating in December 2023.
“I couldn’t believe I had actually won the scholarship,” remarked recipient Maribel Lucero, BS ’14, BA ’14, ABSN ’23. “It sounded too good to be true. The scholarship lifted some weight off my shoulders, giving me one less thing to financially worry about.”
Yocheved Andrusier, ABSN ’23, forwarded the email to her mother to make sure she truly understood how much it would contribute to funding her studies.
As all of the recipients soon learned, their scholarships had been generously funded by Vahan and Danielle Gureghian, the owners of Independence Home Health in South Florida who also happen to be UM parents.
The five scholarship recipients were selected from all applicants based on their academic achievements and their responses to an essay prompt to discuss the role of home health care in nursing.
“I was absolutely honored when I found out I had been selected as one of the recipients of the Gureghian Scholarship,” said Janet Lee, ABSN ’23, a mother of two who previously owned a business with her husband. “The generosity of Mr. and Mrs. Gureghian’s gift of support afforded me an opportunity to focus on my studies and further my education. Meeting Mr. Gureghian made the entire experience so much more valuable. He shared his insights with us and was incredibly encouraging and thoughtful.”
For Andrusier, the scholarship was “a validation of my aspirations, and an affirmation that my hard work and dedication have not gone unnoticed.” Andrusier majored in biology as an undergraduate and was planning on a medical career when her nephew was born weighing just 2 pounds. After experiencing the “atmosphere of emotional support” the neonatal intensive care unit nurses created 24 hours a day for their tiny patients and family members like her, she changed course. “This is God’s work,” she said of nursing.
Although national attention has been focused on severe staffing shortages in their chosen profession, these recent graduates remain confident about their futures.
“The shortage of nurses makes me eager to start already,” explained Lucero. “The field of nursing is filled with endless opportunities. For someone who is terrified of growing bored in a career, that sounds like a dream come true.”
After gaining real-world experience, Francis plans to return to graduate school to become an acute care nurse practitioner. “I’m the type of person who loves to try something new, which is kind of why I gravitated to nursing,” she said.
Lee, who received the Jackson Health System ABSN Clinical Performance and Service Excellence Award at the SONHS Fall 2023 Awards Ceremony in December, has ambitions to work in a surgical intensive care unit, earn her Critical Care Registered Nurse designation, and ultimately become certified as an adult-gerontology acute care nurse practitioner.
“The [ABSN] program is well-structured and provides excellent preparation for the NCLEX and, most importantly, strong clinical preparation,” she said.
Andrusier agrees. She said completing the SONHS ABSN program taught her “to prepare myself and not get burned out. It could not have been a better base of scientific and nursing knowledge. It’s the best opportunity I’ve ever, ever received.”
Scholarship recipient Ana Luisa Ulivi Azpurua, ABSN ’23, said the ABSN program shaped her “into becoming not only a competent nurse, but also a caring human being and patient advocate.” In her thank-you letter to the Gureghians, she summarized beautifully just why the couple’s support was so meaningful to her and her peers: “Your commitment to the education of the next generation of nurse leaders plays a pivotal role in the delivery of quality health care and will truly make a difference in the lives of many patients who are in need.”
April 1, 2024 is the Summer application deadline for the ABSN program at SONHS.
