In this series, we are shining a light on nurses in Maryland who Lead Nursing Forward.
Meet Dr. Laura Schenk, DNP, RN, CNE, Nurse Support Program (NSP) II Grant Administrator.
Dr. Schenk was kind enough to share about her journey with nursing and nursing education in Maryland below.
You can watch the video featuring photos and the voice of Dr. Schenk, or read the transcript below.
Tell us briefly about yourself, how and why you became a nurse educator.
"Hello, my name is Laura Schenk and I work as the Grant Administrator for Nurse
Support Program II at the Maryland Higher Education commission. I have also been a
nurse educator in Maryland for over 9 years. I was born and raised in Maryland and
graduated nursing school in 2010. I was the first person in my family to graduate college
and the first nurse.
I became a nurse because I always had an intrinsic motivation to work with people and care for others.
I was inspired by other nurses all throughout my career. This includes the NICU nurses that took care of my niece who was born 3 months premature.
In nursing school, my instructors inspired me to be a nurse educator because of the impact they made in my life. As a nurse, my interactions with nursing students and patients solidified my love for teaching.
As a little kid, one of my favorite things to do was play school; I loved to pretend that I
was a teacher using my imagination to make fun lesson plans and “homework”
assignments for my pretend students. When I became a nurse educator as an adult,
tapping into that creativity like I did as a child to make learning fun for my students was
my favorite part of the job."
Stay tuned for the next post in this series where Dr. Schenk shares the most important lessons learned over the course of her career and her advice for aspiring educators.
Comments