Alumni share experiences with students during Homecoming event
“Does anyone feel like being just a nurse is not enough?” Scott Rosman ’09, MS ’11, asked students at the Third Annual Mary E. Mahoney Student-Alumni Brunch held Sept. 22 at Binghamton University.
As the students looked intently at Rosman, he said, “I want everyone here to think about just being a nurse. That is a lot. It’s a really big deal to be a nurse, so I don’t want anyone to think that just being a nurse is a bad thing.”
Rosman was one of five panelists at the event (part of the University’s 2019 Homecoming Weekend), answering questions about his experiences in nursing and in Decker. The other panelists were Christian McCarville ’19; Shantay Carter ’00; Sean Britton, MPA ’16; and Edwin Torres ’10, MS ’14.
The brunch was hosted by the Mary E. Mahoney Nursing Support Group (MEM). Senior nursing student and MEM President Moses Reyes said the event welcomes back alumni and gives students the opportunity to gain new knowledge, since the alumni are from different fields in the nursing profession.
“We have alumni who are published authors,” said Reyes. “We have alumni who are managers. We have alumni who have doctoral degrees.”
One of those published authors is Carter, who wrote a chapter in the book, Destined for Greatness. She is also a registered nurse in Long Island, a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority and the creator of Women of Integrity, Inc., a nonprofit that empowers and educates girls and women of all ages and ethnicities.
Carter credits much of her success to the Decker School of Nursing.
“Decker prepares you,” Carter said. “It over prepares you for what you’re going to experience when you get into the hospital. I look at students who come out of other institutions and then I look at Decker graduates — there’s a big difference. You guys are leading the pack.”
Reyes agreed, saying Decker has one of the best nursing programs in the country.
“As I visited [Binghamton] University to get a better feel for it, I immediately felt at home,” he said. “I felt comfortable. The spirit within this University and within the Decker School of Nursing is incredible and I was drawn to it immediately.”
Reyes attributes a lot of this comfortability to MEM’s graduate advisor, Torres.
“Edwin is always accessible,” said Reyes. “Whatever we need from him, whether it’s studying advice, career advice or personal advice, Edwin is always there to help any one of us out.”
While Torres provides advice for MEM members and helps them achieve their goals, he has goals of his own. His ultimate goal is to prevent a patient from going to the hospital.
“If a patient shows up to your clinic, that means they want to get better,” Torres said. “Whether you want to label them as ‘noncompliant’ or not, they showed up. They could have not shown up to your clinic. We have a sick healthcare system where we wait until people get sick and then we treat them.”
The panelists all agreed that their main motivation for pursuing a career in nursing is to help others.
Reyes echoed this sentiment, adding that he got into nursing because he was diagnosed with juvenile rheumatoid arthritis at age 1. He was in the same facility as young patients undergoing chemotherapy and saw how much the nurses did for these children.
“The nurses at that facility provided them with so much support, so much hope throughout their treatments, and it fostered an environment that inspired hope,” Reyes said. “And that’s really why I wanted to become a nurse: I want to do my part in giving someone hope.”