The event’s third speaker is Jean Steel, who will give a keynote address called “Happy Nurses Win.” While nurses are used to caring for others, Steel will remind them to care for themselves too, with guidance on reducing stress and increasing resilience.
Following the speakers, alums will have the chance to tour the nursing building and labs, which may have changed a lot, depending on when they graduated. To further entice alums, they can also get continuing education units for attending.
For those alumni unable to attend in person, a virtual livestream will be available for purchase.
“We have a lot of graduates who either can’t come due to not living in town anymore or because of medical issues,” Ball explained. “We just want to make sure it’s accessible and that they feel included and part of the event.”
Whether they attend in person or not, alumni will have three different funds they can choose to donate to as a way of giving back to their alma mater. In addition to the Bachelor of Science Nursing Scholarship Fund, they can also choose to give to the Nursing Student Global Outreach Fund, which helps send nursing students on international trips to help underserved communities around the world, and the Community Preventive Health Collaborative Fund, which helps with similar outreach activities here in Kern County.
While the event is meant for CSUB nursing alums, donations from others in the community will be gladly accepted, Ball said.
The goal for total donations is a very fitting $50,000. Ball hopes alumni will be moved to donate “because CSUB changed their lives.” As a CSUB nursing alum herself who graduated in 1997, Ball knows that firsthand.
“We gave them the career that has just impacted their lives so much and we want to celebrate that,” Ball said. “We want them to get more connected with us and help those that are chasing their dreams like they did.”
Justin Rodriguez, president of the nursing class of 2024, is one of those students eager to start a career in nursing. A United States Air Force veteran, Rodriguez hopes to become a flight nurse, caring for patients in the air en route from an accident or one hospital to another. He went on the nursing program’s first international outreach trip to Peru in 2022. Thanks to previous grants and ongoing donations, students only have to pay for part of the trip’s cost.
“That really helped with the funding because when you look at the whole cost of that trip, it’s a lot for a college student,” Rodriguez said before explaining how meaningful the trip was. “To see how privileged we can be here and the lack of access Peru had — you saw the glow in their eyes when you gave them simple vitamins. You’re just taking their blood pressure; they were so thankful for it. It’s cool to see that even just a student can have that kind of an impact.”
Rodriguez said being part of CSUB’s 50th graduating nursing class is “pretty surreal, to say the least.”
“When you go into all the nursing classrooms, you see all the different pictures and it really puts into perspective how long the program’s been going on for,” he said. “And then to see all the improvements that they’ve made and how they’re always trying to seek ways to improve the nursing program, it’s pretty cool to see.”