The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's New Careers in Nursing Scholarship Program aims to strengthen the nation's pipeline of new nurses by supporting students enrolled in fast-track degree programs, especially those from an underrepresented group in nursing.

By the time Allison Grady discovered nursing, she had completed degrees in government and religion at Smith College, worked for the United Way, edited a medical ethics journal, volunteered for a hospice and held babies in a neonatal ICU. "I was sort of late in realizing I wanted to go to nursing school," she said. Watching nurses in the ICU inspired her ultimate career goal: pediatric oncology APRN.

Grady is one of eight Graduate Entry Prespecialty in Nursing Program (GEPN) students who began the 2008–09 academic year with $10,000 scholarships from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's (RWJF) New Careers in Nursing Scholarship Program. The scholarship aims to strengthen the nation's pipeline of new nurses by supporting students enrolled in fast-track degree programs, especially those from an underrepresented group in nursing. Associate Dean for Academic Affairs Barbara Guthrie, RN, PhD, FAAN, who received the grant on behalf of YSN, explained, "Students from disadvantaged backgrounds accumulate higher student loan debt as undergraduates, and are therefore less likely to pursue advanced degrees." Since college graduates are disqualified from receiving most federal entry-level financial aid, the scholarships provide important means of support.

"All of our stories are very different," said Stephanie Bedolla, who volunteered in a clinic for migrant farm workers in California as a teenager. After completing a Biology and Society degree at Cornell University, she expects a YSN degree will allow her to combine clinical work, teaching and research. Two other students are graduates of the University of California at Berkeley: Nhu Tran has a bachelor's in molecular and cell biology and wants to be an acute care nurse practitioner; Jamie Low majored in public health and cell biology and plans to improve research and primary care for women.

Timothy Jones, one of two men who received the scholarship, is a Georgetown graduate in psychology and former mental health case manager who plans to become an adult psychiatric APRN. Benjamin Pease, who has an undergraduate degree in biochemistry from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, was working in a Harvard lab when he decided acute care nursing would be more fulfilling.

Krystal Davis, a native of Jamaica (now a U.S. citizen) has a bachelor's in biochemistry and molecular biology from the College of Wooster in Ohio, and a master's in public health from Mount Sinai School of Medicine. "My specialty is acute care," she said. "I am hoping to find a path where I can combine my research, infectious disease, and patient care interests."

The eight students are paired with alumnae/i mentors at YSN, meet with the Associate Dean, and participate in Dean Margaret Grey's leadership seminars as well as the Student Diversity Action Committee.

"One of the things that is most eye-opening about our group is that we are so diverse," said Teresa Svart, who is of Mexican descent. Some of the other recipients are Irish-Puerto Rican, Jamaican, and Vietnamese.

Svart, who has an anthropology degree from the University of Chicago and worked for a Washington, DC, nonprofit, looks forward to meeting the need for nurses who mirror the cultural backgrounds of their patients. She plans to work with minorities in a community clinic, and eventually to train nursing instructors in disadvantaged parts of the world.

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