Getting to the Good Stuff
Segue student Mary Steimer holds a degree in public health.
Mary Steimer, BSN-MSN Segue Program
|
Reaching a Milestone: Scholarships: Faculty Research: Service-Learning: |
The first time Mary Steimer 11N 12MN came to Georgia at age 9, the state was a brief but necessary pit stop on the way from her home in Pittsburgh to that fantasy mecca of Disney World. The second time, in 2009, Steimer came to learn the reality of nursing through Emory’s BSN-MSN Segue Program, designed for nursing students with undergraduate degrees in other fields.
A lot had changed in the years in between. Steimer had traveled abroad and earned a degree in public health but then quickly realized that the field was more policy-oriented than people-focused. Unsure what to do next, she took a job as a research assistant at a small oncology practice in the D.C. area.
And then everything started coming together. “They did chemotherapy treatments in the back, and my little office did all the research trials. I was a jack-of-all-trades, but I couldn’t do the clinically focused stuff,” Steimer remembers. “Basically, that’s how I got interested in working with patients. The physician I worked for was amazing and wonderful. But the nurse practitioner got to spend a lot more time with the patients. All of the nurses and nurse practitioners knew the patients really well, and that was the part that appealed to me—having those long-term relationships with the patients.”
Soon Steimer applied to Emory’s nursing school based on the strength of its reputation. “I had a feeling it was the right place. It was my No. 1 choice,” she says.
This past May, Steimer received her BSN and the news that she’d been awarded a Robert W. Woodruff Clinical Fellowship for her graduate studies. The news was shocking—in a good way. “I’ve been supporting myself ever since I left home, so it lifts the burden and allows me to participate more in nursing school. I think it’s going to open a lot of doors.”
Steimer has opened more doors for herself. She discovered a passion for palliative care, externed at the Atlanta Veterans Affairs Medical Center, planned and piloted a speed networking event at the nursing school, and served as a student ambassador and a representative on the Nurses’ Alumni Association board—all while maintaining a 4.0 GPA. But instead of feeling burnt out, she’s revving to go—literally.
“Sometimes I’m driving down the road and think, ‘I can’t believe I got the fellowship, I can’t believe I’m so close to being where I want to be,’ ” she says. “I feel like I’m just getting to the good stuff.”—Dana Goldman
|
Steimer once worked as an oncology research assistant in Washington, D.C. “All the nurses and nurse practitioners knew the patients really well, and that was the part that appealed to me—having those long-term relationships with patients.” |
||||
