Sep 23, 2024 Nursing student chosen for CSU university system's highest student scholarship award

Sept. 23, 2024 - CSU Channel Islands (CSUCI) Nursing student Heather Smith will receive a 2024 CSU Trustees' Award for Outstanding Achievement at a ceremony in Long Beach as part of the CSU Board of Trustees meeting on Tuesday, Sept. 24.

Smith is one of 23 students chosen for the prestigious award, which is given to one student from each of the CSU campuses. The CSU Trustees' Award is the highest student distinction given, with each awardee receiving a different scholarship established by a specific donor. Smith will be awarded the CSU Trustee Emeritus Murray L. Galinson Scholarship.

"I was driving with my husband and three beautiful daughters when I found out, and I yelled and started dancing around in the car," Smith, 44, said. "Then, honestly, I started to cry. Because it's so hard to go back to school later in life, when some of your friends are talking about retiring."

The CSU Trustees' Award goes to students who have excelled academically despite personal hardship, who have provided community service and demonstrate financial need. This year's class of awardees will receive scholarships totaling $190,000, thanks to generous donors who believe in CSU's mission.

Like many at CSUCI, Smith's educational journey was not the traditional straight-from-high-school-to-college story, but one of a non-traditional student.

The Santa Barbara native began her prerequisite nursing courses online during the COVID-19 pandemic after she had already graduated with a degree in literature from the University of Santa Cruz in 2002 and had established a career in art and photography in New York City.

"I loved New York City. I met my husband there, but I never got paid well and there were a couple of glass ceilings along the way," she said. "I had my three girls and worked part time, but then my father passed away, and we wound up moving back to California. That broke a lot of my professional ties in the art world."

Then, the pandemic hit and the need to start another career became increasingly clear.

"When COVID hit, there was such a need for nurses and a lot of art organizations lost their funding," Smith said. "I have a very good girlfriend who is a doctor, and she wound up having a lot of COVID patients. I heard her stories over the months and years, and she encouraged me to become a nurse."

Smith's husband, Taylor, had also noticed his wife's interest in nursing, and the need for nurses, and suggested she explore that possibility. So, Smith started her rigorous prerequisite classes online during the pandemic, juggling classes, working as a part-time Certified Nurse Assistant (CNA) and being a mom to her daughters: Rowan, 13, and twins Ivy and Georgia, 11.

Before earning her CNA license, Smith volunteered for more than 200 hours as a medical scribe at Doctors Without Walls, serving homeless people in Santa Barbara, and donating her time at Kellogg Elementary - her children's school in Goleta. She also volunteered as an end-of-life companion at a hospice facility called Serenity House after conversations with her physician friend.

"She told me a story of caring for a patient who was all alone, and how she was present for his passing," Smith said. "I think that shifted my interest to end-of-life care. The human race should be there for one another. No one should have to die alone."

After two years at Santa Barbara City College, Smith was accepted into CSUCI's Nursing program, with plans to graduate with her Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) in 2025. Her performance earned her a nomination for the CSU Trustees' Award from CSUCI President Richard Yao.

"Based on Ms. Smith's academic records, civic engagement, and contributions to CSUCI, I believe that she is a strong candidate for this award. Ms. Smith has maintained a 3.89 GPA and I am impressed by her resolve to succeed despite imposing obstacles," Yao wrote. "Ms. Smith genuinely understands what can be accomplished with determination, inspiration, and support from those around you."

Smith and her older sister - also a nurse - are first generation college graduates. The family lives on one income as she attends college, she said, so the scholarship money will be welcome.

Her emotional support comes from her family, sharing flashcards and swapping stories during dinner, and those Post-it notes she finds from her daughter, Ivy, when she opens up her laptop. The notes say things like:

"Mom, you can do hard things!"

For more on the CSU Trustee awards: www.calstate.edu/csu-trustee-awards.

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