For many nursing students, academic and clinical instructors play a huge role in their journey to becoming an RN and RNAO member. Academic instructors guide students in the classroom, teaching them to be curious and passionate. Elizabeth Edwards helped Mahoganie Hines cultivate her passion for advocacy as she pursued her goal to become a palliative care RN. On the clinical side, instructors ensure students can apply what they’ve learned in the classroom to become confident and skilled on the frontlines. Andrea Zides helped Alanna Peplinski learn to interview patients, check vitals, and gain confidence in her career choice. Here are their stories.

Inspiration in an academic setting

For palliative care RN Mahoganie Hines, advocacy has always been a passion. During her 20s, she was a caregiver and personal support worker for a father who was dying and needed an advocate to encourage his family to support and care for him when he was nearing the end of his life. She also helped a mother who lived alone, struggled with vascular dementia, and needed help on a daily basis. Seeing these vulnerable clients made Hines want to speak out.

“The reality is that many of them are so…exhausted. I think it is our responsibility…to advocate for people in a meaningful and purposeful way,” she says.

Hines always knew she wanted to work in palliative care. She also wanted to become a political advocate. She just didn’t know how to combine them. That is, until she met her first-year nursing professor Elizabeth Edwards in 2012.