Leadership lived: Nursing student becomes a leader on the UIS campus

Darlene Steinkamp has a passion for caring for people. That’s why she came to the University of Illinois Springfield her sophomore year as a pre-nursing major. She then applied and was granted admission to the University of Illinois at Chicago’s (UIC) Springfield Regional Campus bachelor of nursing program her junior year.

“Everything we do is at UIS,” she said. “Our classes are at UIS, our professors are at UIS. We do clinical at Memorial Hospital in Springfield.”

As a senior in the UIC Nursing Program, Steinkamp has been very involved on the UIS campus. She is the co-founder and vice president of Legion of Ladies, a student organization created to empower women on campus. The organization is now in the process of possibly becoming a chapter of the Tri Sigma sorority.

“I saw this opportunity and I knew I always wanted to be in a sorority,” she said. “I knew since I was younger. Last August, we started with 13 girls in my townhouse and you know we were kind of packed in there, but now we’re at 39 members.”

On campus she is also the social chair of the Student Nurses Association and works as a student ambassador for UIS Admissions where she helps prospective students learn about the University.

Steinkamp credits her success in the classroom to the small class sizes and hands-on instruction that she receives as a student in the UIC Nursing Program.

“Our instructors really care how we’re doing and what we’re doing. They want to help us,” she said. “It’s really hard course work, but at the end of the day you push yourself harder and also when you’re learning you apply it to clinicals.”

Following graduation with her bachelor’s degree in nursing, Steinkamp plans to apply for the doctor of nursing practice program that is part of the Springfield Regional Campus. She hopes to one day become a nurse practitioner.

“Nursing is all about being a leader,” she said. “You know, taking charge, being the person to be able to make a decision and I’ve really honed my leadership skills here at UIS.”

Leadership lived: Future nurse learns important lessons at UIS

Karen Seegers grew up in a small town and knew she wanted to attend a university where her professors would know her name. She’s glad she chose the nursing program at the University of Illinois Springfield.

“I’m really happy with the small class sizes and the really nice people around,” she said. “It’s just an amazing community.”

Seegers enjoys helping people and wants to work as an emergency flight nurse and eventually become a nurse practitioner.

“I want to become a nurse because I want to be able to give patients hope,” she said. “I want to be a support system for their families and make sure they have a comfortable stay and be an interpreter between the doctor and what they understand.”

Seegers calls her UIS Nursing Program education “extraordinary” and has already taken classes in anatomy, physiology, biochemistry and organic chemistry.

“I’ve had the best professors so far,” she said. “My professor, Mr. Holland, he’s my anatomy and physiology professor, he just obviously wants us to succeed and he does everything in his power that he can for it to happen.”

Seegers admits that the classes are hard, but she says she’s learning a lot and feels well prepared for her career as a nurse.

“It’s a lot harder than I thought it would be,” she said. “A few of my family members have been through it and they said it was difficult, but it’s extremely difficult. It should be.”

At UIS, Seegers is also part of the Leadership for Life living-learning community. It is a service and leadership program for first year students located in Lincoln Residence Hall. Students are required to complete 40 hours of service each semester.

In October 2016, Seegers and a group of 25 other students traveled to Baton Rouge, Louisiana to help flood victims clean up their homes. The students stripped homes down to the studs, so they could dry out, and removed personal belongings damaged by the flood.

“It was really hard,” she said. “We were just taking all of the stuff out of their house and we were talking to the homeowner and he was obviously devastated with everything that happened. We got to save some of his stuff, but a lot of it we didn’t get to save at all. It was really upsetting.”

Seegers plans to use the compassion she’s learned from volunteering to help better understand and treat her future patients.

“I want to be able to show them compassion and everything for what they’re going through,” she said. “I want to provide them support and help them throughout their journey.”