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Congratulations, Class of 2024!

You were meant to be here.  

That message to the Marcella Niehoff School of Nursing Class of 2024—delivered at Commencement by a nurse scientist who studies health inequities in underrepresented populations—was a reminder for the graduates to persevere in the face of hardships and self-doubt.  

“You matter, and you have more to contribute than you may ever realize,” said keynote speaker Bridgette Rice, the Richard and Marianne Kreider Endowed Professor in Nursing for Vulnerable Populations at the Villanova University M. Louise Fitzpatrick College of Nursing.  

Rice, a first-generation college student who said she has struggled with imposter syndrome, told the 225 graduates that each of them brings unique skills to the nursing profession. 

“I am confident that you chose this institution, and it chose you, to shape the future of nursing. You are able to engage with and leverage technology in ways that generations before you never dreamed of,” she said. “You will challenge the status quo and are constantly asking ‘why?’ with an eye toward shifting outdated paradigms and striving for efficiency. I trust that you will take what you’ve learned here to work to expand knowledge in the service of humanity through justice, learning, and faith.”  

Erica Dixon-Johnson, who received her Doctor of Nursing Practice degree at the May 8 ceremony at Gentile Arena, spoke on behalf of the graduating class and shared what has become a mantra in her household: “I can do hard things.”  

Her then-toddler son’s gymnastics coach introduced the phrase as he struggled to learn new skills, and Dixon-Johnson adopted it as she pursued her degree. 

She said the willingness to pursue new and difficult tasks is foundational to a Loyola Nursing education. 

“The five characteristics of a Jesuit education—excellence, faith, service promoting justice, value-based leadership, and global awareness—are hard to do, yet each graduate was called to that promise,” she said. “Each of us answered that call. Hours of studying, developing assessment skills, providing patient care in clinicals, successfully completing comprehensive projects, DNP projects, and dissertations—we did hard things.”  

She added: “From undergraduate to graduate students, your presence here today is a testament to your ability and commitment to doing hard things and doing them well.” 

Celebrating a milestone 

The Class of 2024 included the first cohort of graduates in Loyola Nursing’s CARE (Collaboration, Access, Resources, and Equity) Pathway to the Bachelor of Science in Nursing. The program, launched in 2021 with a $2.2 million Health Resources and Services Administration grant, provides academic, financial, and socio-emotional support to students of color and is intended to boost the number of under-represented nurses within the predominantly white profession.  

The School of Nursing marked the occasion with a celebration dinner attended by the CARE Pathway graduates, their families, Loyola University Chicago leadership, and faculty and staff.  

Graduate Meseret Getachew described how the CARE Pathway, which started when she was a sophomore, provided funds that allowed her to stay at Loyola. The program helped her feel a sense of belonging within the School of Nursing and alleviate her feelings of imposter syndrome.  

“The CARE Pathway program has changed my life and will hopefully continue to change other students’ lives as well,” said Getachew, who will begin her career as a nurse at the Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago. 

The CARE Pathway was inspired by Arrupe College; two Loyola Nursing graduates in the Class of 2024 previously earned associate’s degrees from Arrupe.  

CARE Pathway coordinator Janie Ortiz said the program “was created from an idea that the nursing profession could do more for its patients and that health equity is achievable if we transform who is providing care. I am so proud that our CARE Pathway scholars will be at the forefront of this movement.”