Partner in Excellence Award: Reach for the Stars Nursing Scholarship Program

I remember in that very first conversation, as we heard what Reach for the Stars was and what it did for people who had a dream of becoming a nurse, it left us with a question of like, really?

It was one of those things where you got the news that someone wanted to provide a ton of scholarships to people who wanted to pursue nursing.

I thought this was one of those too-good-to-be-true-moments, and it has been such a wonderful journey.

The program is called the Reach for the Stars Nursing Scholarship Program. Our main goal is to create nurses and to help do something about the shortage that is out there.

We've had the opportunity now to interview and award these scholarships to hundreds of people, and the one I think underlying common characteristic among most of them, or all of them, is their passion and their commitment to the profession.

It was like, I either get the scholarship and I get to continue school, or I have to take a couple years off and work until I can afford to go back to school.

I think we've given 53 scholarships since we implemented this platform. The impact that we made on those individuals, their families, and then you look at the big scheme of the impact that we're having with the health system, this will be never ending.

A lot of these people have known for almost their entire life that they want to be nurses, but something has gotten in the way of that journey.

Trying to go to nursing school and trying to work at least part-time, is it's a big ask of somebody, and sometimes it can get a little bit overwhelming.

The program really becomes a recruiting and retention tool for the hospital.

It's so nice that the Reach for the Stars foundation and scholarship program aligns so closely with our goals of investing in people and enriching our next generation of workforce.

We're allowed to award 15 scholarships twice a year, and so we market this to all of our campuses. We market to our anesthesia tech folks and sterile processing and those in ambulatory clinic settings that aren't necessarily on the nursing track right now, but those who may be interested in going to nursing school but may not have the opportunity to do so themselves.

I think it's getting a lot of the departments involved to really talk about career pathing with our employees, about what's their next step, and when you have the ability to get a nursing scholarship to really reduce the financial burden that you would have to take those steps, it's been an excellent program.

It's something so special that I look forward to when we do the announcement celebration ceremonies. Every single time a new recipient of the program is named.

We go to the units and do celebrations, and then they get their entire nursing school paid for. It's a wonderful thing.

And it is the best day ever. They have no idea we're coming. And it's life changing.

What you really feel is joy and hope and gratitude from these people who will become nurses because of what the Reach for the Stars program is doing for them.

I've accepted a job in the pediatric ICU, and I am so, so excited, like this is my dream job, and I am so blessed that I am able to get to this point.

That's really why we're doing this is to help those that want to become nurses, and so to see that happening is really fulfilling for all of us.

Our goal is to create nurses, and we have found it to be a great way to help our hospital partners grow their own.

It provides a great recruitment effort to get new nurses into the profession, but also retains those nurses because of the investment made into them.

The Reach for the Stars Foundation has been this incredible partner with us, helping people achieve their dreams.

For me, they made it so I can graduate. And I think a lot of other people are in my situation, and so I just am extremely grateful.

It means a lot that they were chosen to be in the Hall of Fame.

I think it's so well-deserved, and I know that we'll be great partners with them for many years.

While we are very humbled to be receiving the award, we're also very excited about it, and the reason is because it's creating awareness about the program, and it's getting the word out.