Two CNM Nursing Students Win Prestigious Scholarship

Every year, the New Mexico Center for Nursing Excellence recognizes 20 outstanding nursing students from across the state as winners of its highly competitive Nightingale Scholarship. Recipients receive $1,000 each and are chosen based on their dedication to their work and studies, as well as their commitment to their local communities.

This year’s winners included two CNM students, Ryan Evans and Josue Juarez. Both say they never planned on working in healthcare but found their calling as nurses after realizing they wanted a career change. 

“I never thought I would win the scholarship, but I’m very excited I did,” Ryan says. 

Ryan has a master’s degree in business and was working for an insurance company when he decided to go back to school. At first he thought he might like to become a dental hygienist but after taking a few classes Ryan changed his mind and decided to enroll in CNM’s Nursing program instead. 

Josue was working as a professional musician when he decided to return to CNM after an eight-year college hiatus. He’s in the CNM-UNM Dual Degree Program and says he quickly developed a passion for the medical field.

“Once I got the chance to go to clinicals, I realized working with patients is what I want to do,” Josue says. “It’s very fulfilling actually getting to work with people and see them get better and get healthier.” 

After losing his father to a brain aneurysm at the age of 16, Josue says it's especially important to him that his patients feel cared for because of the memories he still has of the nurses who helped treat his dad.    

“I didn’t think about it at the time, but now I realize how much my dad’s nurses did to take care of him, and I want to be like them,” Josue says. 

For Ryan, it's all about treating his patients the way that he'd like to be treated, and hopefully helping to alleviate some of their pain and stress.

“It’s incredibly rewarding being able to go home at the end of my shift knowing that I helped make someone feel better that day,” Ryan says.

Both Ryan and Josue are set to graduate from CNM at the end of the summer. After that, Ryan hopes to get a job at a local hospital.

As for Josue, he’ll have one more semester left at UNM before graduating with his bachelor’s degree in December. From there, he also hopes to get a job at a hospital, specifically in an oncology unit working with cancer patients.  

Learn more about CNM’s Nursing program here.