My leadership journey began when I was little as I watched over my brother’s crib, advocating for him whenever he cried or needed something. As I got older, the leadership role looked slightly different; I would speak up on behalf of the entire class, run errands for the teacher if help was needed, and would mediate basic issues on who moved someone’s lunchbox. Today, my leadership looks entirely different as I serve the Molloy Nursing Student Association as the Co-Vice President and the Nursing Students Association of New York State (NSANYS) as their President. I am so thrilled with where my leadership journey has taken me and all the positive changes that I have made throughout. I would never have pursued these leadership positions had it not been for upperclassmen Molloy students who noticed the passion for leadership in me and urged me to join these incredible organizations.
My past experiences and leadership journey with Molloy University have inspired me to strive for bigger change and even higher leadership. Due to this and the overwhelming core values in me to always be a leader, I pushed myself to pursue national leadership. Running for national leadership has been an extensive and exciting journey as the application-and-pre-slating process requires many approvals from faculty, recommendations, biography form, headshot, and campaign videos of answering questions and giving a campaign speech. It also has been rigorous trying to secure some funding for my campaign, but Molloy has been so generous and supportive of this national leadership goal that they covered my entire campaign materials. I also had to do a presidential debate against my fellow presidential candidates, where I discussed different nursing issues that are happening in the world today.
The convention took place April 12-16th in Nashville, TN at the Gaylord Opryland Hotel. Voting took place on Saturday, April 15th and delegates from nursing schools all around the country voted on who they believe would be the best NSNA President for the 2023-2024 term. My campaign focused on holistic nursing care and how we can naturally take care of ourselves, our patients, and their families.
With Florence Nightingale as the inspiration for my campaign, I wanted to bring realistic methods of incorporating holistic techniques to our daily lives on a national level. At the end of the House of Delegates meeting on Saturday, they announced the number of votes that each candidate received. I received 118 votes with my fellow candidate receiving 115 and the other receiving 18. After the announcement, they asked all the new board members to come forward to be pinned by their predecessor with the NSNA pin. Immediately after the close of the House of Delegates, we were asked to take headshots and a group photo with the professional photographer. Then, we all sat together for the Closing Ceremony of the NSNA Convention and were called up to be presented to all of the NSNA attendees.
The following day, I attended a brief meeting at 7 am with Dr. Diane Mancino, the Executive Director of NSNA. Directly afterwards, I presided over my first meeting as NSNA President with my new board members and the NSNA Staff. As President, I hope to take the concerns and needs of the students of NSNA and bring them to the national level to seek methods of change. I also hope to push for better circumstances for our nurses so that we can make a better tomorrow for us and for the next generation of nursing leaders. In my presidency, I also hope to educate students on the realistic ways of providing holistic care and why it’s extremely important in our society today. Being elected into this role and representing Molloy both nationally and internationally is an experience that I will always cherish and hold close to my heart.