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Nursing students to pursue their passion
Published 7:00am Tuesday, February 22, 2011If there is one common denominator in the background of students in the nursing program at Minnesota State Community and Technical College – Fergus Falls, it is that there is none.
Their stories, ages and backgrounds are as varied as the patients they will treat one day. They include a former legal secretary, a former environmental geologist and a former veterinary clinician. There are mothers, recent high school graduates and mothers taking classes alongside their recent high school graduates.
While the ages and backgrounds of the students vary widely, the passion that drew them to pursue a career in nursing is mutual: a desire to help and care for others.
It was that sort of compassion and kindness that left an indelible impression on Bea Smedsrud in 2001. She was hospitalized in critical care that year, and Smedsrud credits her nurses with helping her through a difficult time. Along with an appreciation for the kindheartedness and crucial care that nurses provide, she also came to realize how many of her nurses had received their education and training through M State – Fergus Falls while juggling studies, work and family responsibilities.
That is when Smedsrud and her husband, Milt, decided to set up a special fund through Fergus Area College Foundation to provide scholarships to nursing students pursuing degrees at M State – Fergus Falls. Through the Communicating for Agriculture Scholarship and Education Foundation, the Smedsruds have provided these scholarships since 2001. In 2010, the CA Foundation contributed an additional $15,000 to Fergus Area College Foundation for health care scholarships.
The CA Foundation was established as a non-profit charitable foundation in 1981 by Milt Smedsrud for the purpose of encouraging young people from rural areas to further their education and careers in agriculture and health care. The CA Foundation appreciates the real-world training that M State provides its nursing students.
“Practical training is essential to a meaningful education, and most American college and university programs don’t recognize this,” said CA Foundation director Ben Schierer. “The M State nursing program understands the significance of hands-on training, and that is very important to us.”
The Fergus Falls campus offers both practical nursing and associate degree RN nursing programs, with more than 100 students currently enrolled. The CA Nursing Scholarship recipients, like their many classmates, each followed a different path to a nursing career. Scholarship recipient Lynn Marquedant of Fergus Falls, a student in the associate degree RN program, was previously a legal secretary and a licensed childcare provided. She enrolled in the nursing program at the same time her daughter enrolled at M State – Fergus Falls.
Brittany Loewen of Pelican Rapids originally enrolled in M State’s Equine Science Program and worked as a veterinary technician, but her anatomy and physiology classes sparked an interest in nursing. After she completes the practical nursing program with the financial support of a CA scholarship, she plans to pursue her associate’s degree in nursing
Abigail Vetter, a second-year nursing student, is another CA Foundation scholarship recipient who exemplifies the personal characteristics and attitude that inspired the Smedsruds to establish the scholarship fund. She is a mother, wife and employee, in addition to being very active in the Make-A-Wish Foundation, Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society and the Student Nursing Organization, where she is the charity coordinator.
Vetter began the nursing program at M State in 2009 and is on track to graduate with honors with her associate degree. She plans to begin her nursing career as an RN in the birthing center at Essentia Health in Fargo. She also intends to pursue her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in nursing so she can eventually work as a nurse practitioner.
“Being a nurse offers flexibility,” Vetter explains, “which is important for a family, and for me as a wife and mother.”
Before returning to school for nursing, Vetter followed in the career footsteps of her father, an engineer. She earned her bachelor’s in geology and her master’s in space studies and worked as an environmental geologist with the Soil and Water Conservation Service in Thief River Falls. While she enjoyed the work, she didn’t feel completely fulfilled. In her second career she will follow in the footsteps of her mother, who was a nurse.
She feels that her personal experience with her own family and children will help her in her new career. Three of her children had early starts, and she has a deep empathy for the families that have children in similar situations.
“Our third child was born with a life-limiting genetic disorder that took her from us when she was just 5 years old,” Vetter said. “Dealing with her intense medical issues and her eventual passing gave me a desire to enter the nursing field so that I can give back to others in the way that my family was so lovingly treated. I needed to be a nurse. Doctors treat diseases, and nurses treat people.”
“Even though there are many nursing programs available in the Fargo area, I chose to attend M State – Fergus Falls because of its reputation as an excellent nursing school,” said Vetter, who lives in Fargo and commutes to Fergus Falls. “I felt like the practical, hands-on experience that the program provides and the one-on-one attention given by the instructors provide an exceptional education and experience that I wouldn’t receive at other programs. The practical component of the curriculum is by far the most important part for me. It is one thing to learn from a book, but it is a whole other world learning the holistic care that nursing requires.”
“Fergus Area College Foundation is grateful for the support of community partners such as Communicating for Agriculture,” said Carolyn Glesne, executive director of Fergus Area College Foundation. “We are proud of the skilled care that these M State – Fergus Falls nursing graduates provide in medical facilities throughout the region. The scholarships that CA provides through Fergus Area College Foundation are making a difference for these students and are therefore making a difference in the region.”
Helping those who will someday make such a big difference in the lives of others is why the Smedsruds began the scholarship, and they are happy to be able to help students like Vetter, Marquedant and Loewen.
“Being able to help people is so rewarding and makes you feel like you have accomplished something,” Vetter said. “The scholarship provided by Communicating for Agriculture has allowed me to spend more time on my studies and with my family and less time worrying about paying my tuition.”
