Alumni Speech
I can’t tell you how much it means to me to be here with you all this morning, in a place that was foundational to who I was as a student over a decade ago, as well as the person and the nurse I am today (and I’m not just saying that because it’s flattering to still be considered young). To be back here this morning, having lived what feels like a lot of life in those years in between, is incredibly humbling. I am truly grateful to you all, to Marquette, and specifically the College of Nursing for his honor.
As touched and appreciative of this award as I am, I have to confess that it there is something deeply uncomfortable about being celebrated for your role in one of the hardest things you’ve ever had to live through. I suspect that this feeling is not unique to me, and perhaps is something many of you in this room have grappled with the last couple of years. Nursing has always had an important role to play at the forefront of a crisis, but I would argue that never has there been a time and place where, globally, nurses were needed to serve in such specific ways at such a specific time as has been asked of us during the COVID pandemic.
As a student at Marquette, I learned the importance of cura personalis, care for the whole person. This tenet has always been central to the profession of nursing, and one of the things I love most about my job in public health is that I get to be a nurse who cares for the whole community. In New York, that community just happens to be 8.5 million people. When that community was brought to its knees in spring of 2020, it was nurses who brought it back to life. I am always proud to be a nurse, but those moments of paralyzing unknowns, those nights of unrelenting sirens, followed but months of unbearable silences, forged in me a renewed sense of what it means to carry those credentials with pride.
To you all, who woke up each morning over the last two and a half years and put on your scrubs, or logged into Zoom, or like me, worked with your local government to develop an infrastructure for response and recovery, I extend my heartfelt gratitude. I am also profoundly grateful to have this opportunity to thank my family, who is here with me today, for answering the phone at 3 AM as I commuted home on empty streets, who let me cry as friends got sick co-workers and passed away, and who even drove 1000 miles to pick me up and take me home at a time I was tired in my bones. Thank you for your love, support and for always leading by example.
It was at Marquette that I first heard a prayer by Fr. Pedro Arrupe that says, “Grant me the ability to see things now with new eyes.” Marquette provided me with a lens through which to view the world around me and my place in it. While I do not and cannot see the world around me the way I did as an idealistic 22-year-old, Marquette gave me the tools I needed to take all that I’ve seen, and felt, and learned during these challenging times and let that inform my vision moving forward. I believe deeply that it is our responsibility as nurses to carry these lessons with us as we continue to care for the whole person, and for whole communities. Nurses were here before COVID started and are still standing long after the 7 PM clapping has ended. It is a true privilege to be one of you. Thank you!
