Lisle Nursing Student Receives BenU Scholarship

from Benedictine University

Lisle resident Sina Aiono and 11 other nursing students at Benedictine University have been awarded 2011-2012 Evelyn R. Simmers Scholarships, said Brian Higgerson, D.N.Sc., assistant professor of Nursing. 

The Eveyln R. Simmers Trust was established in 2009 to endow scholarships for students pursuing either a bachelor’s or master’s degree in nursing from the Department of Nursing at Benedictine University. A total of $32.850 will be awarded.

Other 2011-2012 scholarship recipients include Mercy Chirpich, (Villa Park); Salithia March (Chicago); Kristina Jones (Springfield); Sarah Aldred-Fleege (Villa Park); Linda Dinges (Hannibal, Mo.); Latisha Richardson (Joliet); Joy Jurasic (Woodridge); Kristina Strackaite (Bolingbrook); Julie Fountain (Schaumburg); Jennifer Hoffman (Downers Grove); and Tibessa Lawrence-Ellis (Broadview).

Prior to their deaths, Evelyn Simmers and her husband, Wallace, who owned a small manufacturing company in Chicago, were well-known for their support of hospital activities and programs. Both succumbed to cancer.

“Evelyn Simmers was a woman who truly believed in the philosophy of teaching one person and having them pass their education on to many more people,” said Meagan Daniel, Chief Grants Officer at Benedictine University. “She had a passion for education, and especially for nurses, who have the opportunity to touch so many lives each and every day.”

Benedictine’s R.N.-to-B.S.N. (Bachelor of Science in Nursing) completion program provides registered nurses with the skills and knowledge necessary to undertake leadership positions where they work and further their education at the graduate level. The program is offered through a partnership between Benedictine, the College of DuPage in Glen Ellyn, Triton College in Morton Grove and Memorial Medical Center in Springfield.

The fully online Master of Science in Nursing (M.S.N.) program at Benedictine is designed to prepare registered nurses at the master’s degree level for the rapidly changing face of health care. The program emphasizes interrelated academic preparation in areas of leadership, education, administration, and public and global health care.

The scholarships will help make the programs affordable to more students during a time when there is a critical shortage of qualified health care workers.