SON Magazine 2024

The first recipient of the Evelyn Marguiles Endowed Scholarship is Aishat Jimohkuku, who began her journey at Rutgers School of Nursing in the fall of 2023. A native of Nigeria, Jimohkuku decided become a nurse when she was only nine. It was then that she watched television in horror during the 2014 Ebola crisis in West Africa. “I saw people in pain I’d never seen or experienced before,” she says. “And I saw the positive impact medical professionals were having on their patients’ lives. At that point, I knew I wanted to be a nurse.” Her family eventually emigrated to the U.S., and in June 2023, Jimohkuku graduated from Weequahic with high honors. Kyle D. Warren, PhD, MAE, senior vice dean of administration and student affairs at the School of Nursing, spoke at the 2023 Weequahic graduation ceremony and presented Aishat Jimohkuku with the scholarship.Hev was the keynote speaker for the schools 2024 graduation and recognized two additional scholarsip recipiants. “When I received this scholarship, my family and I were more than overjoyed,” says Jimohkuku. “It is a career path opener, allowing me to strive for my goal of being a nurse without the stress of financial worries.” Rutgers School of Nursing knows that more needs to be done to address the nursing shortage. It is working to partner with Weequahic, one of six public high schools in Newark that launched job-sector academies in 2020. These academies focus on areas such as allied health, business and finance, education, engineering, environmental studies, and law. The high school students in the Allied Health Services Academy spend four years studying courses such as human body systems and medical interventions, along with their regular curriculum. A cohort of students recently visited the School of Nursing’s clinical learning and simulation labs. Yolanda Cassidy-Bogan, Weequahic’s school-to-career coordinator, was an honored guest at the School of Nursing’s May 2023 convocation where she celebrated the new nursing graduates. “We’re trying to really prepare our high school students for the real world, so they to casn graduate and go into the field. Meanwhile, Aishat Jimohkuku is thriving at the School of Nursing, working hard to achieve her goals. Her long-term career goal is to become a neonatal intensive care nurse. “What makes the school unique is the way equity and equality are built into our curriculum, teaching us to become nurses who are socially and emotionally aware of our environment and commitment to society,” she says. “I appreciate the passion behind all the professors who are committed to educating us.” n R U T G E R S N U R S I N G / S P R I N G / S U M M E R 2 0 2 4 2 2 / 2 3 Aishat Jimohkuku, first recipient of the Evelyn Marguiles Endowed Scholarship, is currently enrolled in the School of Nursing.