Student nurse one of 51 first recipients of new COVID-19 scholarship
National nursing association funds offer support to help new nurses enter the workforce.
Janel Shoun-Smith | 615.966.7078 |
Heather Corbin, a rising senior in the School of Nursing, was one of the 51 first recipients in the nation of the COVID-19 Nursing Student Support Fund, provided by the Foundation for Academic Nursing, the philanthropic arm of the American Association of Colleges of Nursing.
Heather Corbin
One student studying nursing in each state and the District of Columbia were selected from 2,800 applications received for the $500 scholarship for nursing students facing hardships as a result of the pandemic.
Corbin, an Indianapolis, Indiana, native, was already a veteran of applying for several scholarships a year throughout her college career, but the recent COVID-19 pandemic and economic recession brought new challenges to her family.
Her father changed jobs in December, shortly before the surge of COVID-19 cases, requiring her family to move to a new city during the pandemic lockdown period this spring.
“Attempting to stay safe is a priority for my family, however, moving six hours away and finding contractors has been very difficult,” Corbin said. “Expenses pile up and stress does as well. I will be excited to finally move into our new home as our entire family is currently sharing a one-bedroom apartment.”
The Foundation for Academic Nursing launched the new scholarship as a way to remove barriers to new nurses entering the workforce.
"As a community of academic nursing leaders, we believe that it is critically important to support nursing students whose education and lives have been directly impacted by the coronavirus," said AACN President and Chief Executive Office Deborah Trautman.
"Now, more than ever, we need a robust supply of nurses available to combat today's pandemic as well as future threats to our nation's public health and safety."
Corbin was drawn to nursing through the example of her mother, who works in the medical field.
“Her passion and love for her patients is something that I will always strive to have in my day to day work! She has shown me what it means to give quality care to others when they are in times of need,” Corbin said of her mother.
During her studies at Lipscomb, Corbin has served as the treasurer of the Lipscomb Student Nursing Association and as a Presidential Ambassador and is a member of the Phi Sigma Social Club.
“My experience at Lipscomb has been nothing short of wonderful. Students and faculty at Lipscomb have a way of making you feel at home. My professors pray before each of our exams, and often ask us if there is anything that they can be praying for us about,” she said.
“I hold my professors with high regard, because they have been in the field and in the classroom. Getting the opportunity to learn from them has been wonderful. Lipscomb nursing staff has a variety of people from many different specialties in health care; they each contribute to our learning experience and prepare us to become the best nurses that we can be,” she said.
“The American Association of Colleges of Nursing is crucial to nursing education, establishing educational quality standards essential to safe, evidence-based, effective nursing care,” said Chelsia Harris, executive director of the School of Nursing about the association funding Corbin’s scholarship. “We could not be prouder that our own Lipscomb nursing student, Heather Corbin, was chosen out of 2,800 applicants as one of the 51 recipients of the AACN COVID-19 Scholarship.”
Want to know more about Lipscomb's School of Nursing? Visit www.lipscomb.edu/nursing