Kaskaskia College Nursing Faculty Wins Three Highly Competitive Nurse Educator Fellowship Awards

Always striving for excellence in the classroom and clinic, three Kaskaskia College faculty members received a prestigious Illinois Board of Higher Education Nurse Educator Fellowship award this school year. Each award winner earned $10,000 to inject into their educational experience to improve themselves as instructors and enhance their students' experience. In two years, five total nursing faculty members at KC have earned the Nurse Educator Fellowship award, illustrating the exceptional program the college is operating to put nurses into the community. This year's recipients were LPN Program Coordinator Dr. Kimberly Storm, LPN to RN Bridge Program Coordinator Nichole Macon, and ADN Program Coordinator Lisa Barrow.

Kaskaskia College Dean of Health Sciences Lisa Ring said the Nursing Fellowship is extremely competitive, and the application process includes a letter of recommendation, an in-depth plan of how the money will be used, and an extensive packet of information each applicant has to fill out. The money can be used for a variety of purposes, including putting funds toward a doctorate degree, finding nursing conferences to attend, bringing guests into the classroom, and many other initiatives to improve both the educator and student experience. Each faculty member who won the award this year is putting the money toward something different, and Ring said she couldn't say enough about how much it means for the KC nursing program.

Our LPN coordinator will spend the next year researching how to improve students' resilience, Ring said. It is proven students with higher resilience do better in the classroom and go on to be exceptional nurses. The second award recipient, our LPN to RN coordinator, will use the money to help students who have been out of the classroom for an extended period of time return to college. This includes just being away for a few semesters to even being gone for a decade, bridging generational gaps, and getting everybody to the same level of learning. Finally, our ADN coordinator plans to use the funds to help students transition from the classroom to the workforce. She works with hospitals and clinics throughout our region and places students with nurses to get 1-on-1 training.

The IBHE Nursing Fellowship money will also directly impact people who live throughout the Kaskaskia Colleges district and region. KC routinely graduates nurses who go on to stay in the area, meaning local people are receiving care from highly trained, qualified professionals. Ring said the nursing program at Kaskaskia College is known for having a set of high standards throughout the community, and they work hard to keep that reputation.

Since we're in a rural community, there's a lot of us that are interconnected to each other, Ring said. From one family to the next, there is a personal element to this program in particular with generations of students going through it. You know, when you're training somebody to make them into a nurse, you're putting someone out there in your local community who is going to care for our children, family members, grandparents, and beyond. Were paying it forward to our community with each batch of nurses we put out. We are creating a healthcare workforce for our families.