Together we prepare nurse leaders

“I want to be a health care provider patients can trust,” says Thompson Nguyen, as he described his calling to the nursing profession. Nguyen, a member of the Bachelor of Science in Nursing Class of 2025, is the inaugural recipient of the Nursing Inclusivity Scholarship.

Initially guided by his parents’ desire for him to pursue a “stable career in high demand,” Nguyen gained further motivation from patients he met while volunteering at a local hospital. He realized that holes in the health care safety net sometimes left patients with unmet needs. “It’s alarming how common the issue is,” says Nguyen. “It is a problem that needs to be addressed because all patients should receive the care they deserve.”

Inspired by a mutual commitment between the school and the scholarship’s benefactor to create a workforce that reflects the communities its graduates serve, the Nursing Inclusivity Scholarship covers the full cost of attendance for four years as long as the scholar remains in good academic standing. The benefactor, who chooses to remain anonymous, also wanted to reduce the financial burden four years of student loan debt creates. “My gift along with others will educate nurses at all levels and give them a debt free education.”

For Nguyen, graduating with little to no debt is empowering. “My father is the only breadwinner in our household, which makes it impossible to fund my tuition,” he says. “Words cannot express how thankful I am to be the recipient of the Nursing Inclusivity Scholarship. I will give it my all these four years and beyond to become someone who can make a difference in the health care system.”