For RNAO nursing graduate members Hilda Oni and Kelly-Ann Reid, receiving the Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) Award for Indigenous and Black Nursing Students was the opportunity of a lifetime during their fourth-year of study. As part of the award, they were each given a $5,000 bursary and a clinical placement at Toronto’s SickKids Hospital, where they can learn what it is like to be a pediatric acute care nurse.

“When I first found out, I was very excited,” says Oni, who studied at Toronto Metropolitan University (formerly Ryerson University) in 2021 and had wanted to go into pediatric health care for a while. “I enjoy working with (kids)…kids are energetic and keep things interesting.”

Similarly, Reid’s dream has always been to work with kids. “I have always loved children, so pediatrics has always been a field I wanted to end up in,” says the York University graduate.

Oni and Reid received their awards in December 2021, and began their respective SickKids placements in January 2022, completing them in April 2022. They both said they loved every second of it.