Unique Classroom Experience Was Critical Bridge to Nursing Program
For sophomore Sarah Kimani, pursuing a nursing degree has been a long time in the making, starting with some solid examples to grow up around — her mother is a nurse and her father is a radiology technician.
“I grew up in a household where almost all my family members were in the medical field,” she said. “I knew from a young age that’s what I wanted to do.”
Outside of those familial examples, she said she always wanted more opportunities to explore the career options or prepare for the next step in her education, but they were not immediately available at her high school in Salina, Kansas.
Her junior year, Kimani and her family moved to the Kansas City area. Her new school, St. Thomas Aquinas High School in Overland Park, Kansas, offered a nursing exploration course in partnership with Rockhurst University, giving her the chance to learn more about the options available in nursing and get a feel for what nursing education would be like.
Even for someone who knew she was looking for that kind of experience, Kimani said the course was eye-opening. As a high school student, she was immersed in the nursing education experience in Rockhurst University’s state-of-the-art health sciences facility, Sedgwick Hall.
“Coming on campus and doing something like going into the sim lab was really important for me,” she said. “People talk about college and nursing school and everything, but you can't really see it. Here I felt like a college student.”
Kimani said the face-to-face time she also received with guest speakers and nursing faculty gave her new perspective on the range of specialties available and the day-to-day work of a nurse.
In addition to the sneak peek it offered of her potential career, Kimani said through the exploration course she got to know Rockhurst University, as well, and was particularly inspired by the Jesuit focus on service as part of education. For someone who hopes to serve African American communities of Chicago as a nurse, the connection to making a difference with her degree made the choice easy.
“I came here for my college visit and they talked about what Jesuit means to them and what they actually do for like the community,” she said. “Seeing that they actually go out and help people, and how it’s intertwined with what the faculty teach, showed me how important that was, because that’s really important to me.”
