Major: Nursing/Pre-BSN
Holly Greenwell had very specific educational goals for herself: to become a leader in the nursing profession, to graduate from college as debt-free as possible, and to be an honors student at College of DuPage.
So far, she’s meeting those goals in impressive fashion. As a Presidential Scholar at College of DuPage, she received a full-tuition scholarship and membership in the Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society while completing her Associate in General Studies in less than two years.
Due to her accomplishments, including a 3.949 cumulative GPA, Greenwell received the College of DuPage Honors Transfer Scholarship awarded by Elmhurst University. This full-tuition scholarship paid for her Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree.
“I needed to maintain a minimum of a 3.25 GPA in order to keep the scholarship, and I wanted to maintain a high GPA at Elmhurst so that I could graduate with the highest honors,” she said.
She completed those goals as well, graduating magna cum laude and from the honors program. While at Elmhurst, she also was president of the Student Nurses Association.
Greenwell, who loves watching surgery and medical shows on TV, selected nursing because she enjoys helping people. Anatomy was one of her favorite classes in high school, and her interest in nursing grew even more through her volunteer work at the York Community Resource Center, the CNS Home Health and Hospice, LifeSource, and Central DuPage Hospital. She also worked at the Meadows Retirement Home.
After earning her bachelor’s degree, Greenwell accepted a job at Mayo Clinic in Minnesota, where she worked on the general medicine and hospice floor. She was a charge nurse, precepted/trained new nurses and was chair of the Skin Savers committee.
Greenwell is now at the Mayo Clinic campus in Jacksonville, Fla., initially in solid organ transplant for two years. She currently is the nurse manager for the virtual hospital program, Advanced Care at Home, which started in 2020.
“The goal is to transition patients home while at the inpatient status,” she said. “The program essentially brings the hospital to the patient while monitoring them virtually, allowing the patient to recover in the comfort of their home. The program currently provides care for patients across multiple states, and it will be exciting to see it continue to grow.”
She also completed a Master of Science in Nursing through the Clinical Nurse Educator program at Jacksonville University and a Doctor of Nursing Practice in Leadership. Her career goal is nursing leadership.
“I hope to stay with Advanced Care at Home long term and continue to grow in nursing leadership within the department,” she said. “The program has had such a positive impact and I would love to continue to be a part of its future growth and development.”
Greenwell encourages others to check out College of DuPage. With its top reputation nationally, COD offers an abundance of transfer programs and opportunities available on campus, whether it's classes or clubs.
“Students should look at the future and think about how much debt or loans they might have to pay off, because College of DuPage is a great school where students can get a fantastic education for an unbeatable price,” she said.
Learn more about the Nursing/Pre-BSN program at College of DuPage
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