For Immediate Release
Contact: Kim Schmelz, Foundation Director
Phone: 608.822.2379
Mail: 1800 Bronson Blvd., Fennimore, WI 53809
Date of Release: April 16, 2020
Alumni Spotlight – Jenna Taylor 2011 Nursing graduate
Fennimore -We have an amazing amount of faculty and staff who are also Southwest Tech alumni. We want to take this time to give them the spotlight to share their Southwest Tech story.
Jenna Taylor is a 2011 Nursing graduate and now serves as a Nursing instructor
I wouldn’t be where I am today without SWTC- I truly mean that! I had wonderful instructors who believed in me. I am so fortunate to teach with some of those same individuals today. Penny Demert-Neal and Marcia Hampton were two of the BIGGEST people to impact me during the program. I still communicate with them both today! I might add, Penny is still my go-to for professional advice and I’m a better person and nurse because of her! She knows this too….I tell her all the time!
Thinking on this some more…..their impact on me has been a ripple effect- it’s also positively impacted my family, the patients I care for, the students I teach, the list goes on and on….the ripple in the pond continues all because of that one instructor, that one person who believed in me. This is why I am at SWTC, this is why I care so deeply to make a difference in all that I do!
I chose SWTC because of the location. I grew up in the area and wanted to stay here. SWTC also had a great reputation for providing a top-notch education. It was affordable and I understood the opportunity it would provide me with to advance my career in the future. I also had just been laid off from a job. I took advantage of a Dislocated Worker Program that was offered to help me go back to school. I had worked as a CNA while in high school, but after graduation, wasn’t sure what I wanted to do. After some time in the workforce, I knew I wanted to go back to healthcare. Being laid off from my job was a blessing in disguise as it provided me the opportunity to do it!
Starting my education at SWTC has had a huge impact on my career. After I finished the first year of the nursing program, I was able to take my boards, work as an LPN, and gain experience while completing the remainder of my nursing degree. Also because of the options to take classes part time or full time, I was able to balance family, school, and work while progressing towards my degree.
After my graduation from SWTC, I was able to further my education and earn my Bachelor’s Degree in Nursing. It was great to have my credits transfer to the RN to BSN program I attended after SWTC. Being able to work as an RN while completing my Bachelor’s degree was impactful as I could provide financially for my family and I could gain real world experience to apply to my degree. I continued to work in different nursing roles after obtaining my Bachelor’s Degree-working as a nurse in long term care, med/surg, and the emergency room. I also took every opportunity to learn more and gain extra certifications. I loved learning and with everything that changes in healthcare, learning never stops! Throughout my nursing career, I often did a lot of reflecting on how much I had grown professionally as a nurse. I knew that the support, mentoring, guidance, and education I received from the Nursing Faculty at SWTC had a huge impact on that. That made me realize that I again wanted to go back to school, this time for my Master’s degree. So I did! I completed my Master’s degree in Nursing with a focus on Nursing Education. I’m now back at SWTC, but in a different capacity- as a Nursing Faculty member! It’s been incredible to have the same individuals who helped mentor me when I was a student in the nursing program, now mentoring me during my first few years teaching at SWTC. My goal is to impact my student’s lives the way I was impacted- to support them, mentor them, and help them reach their professional goals!
Outside of teaching, I continue to work as an Emergency Room nurse. Besides nursing, my number one passion is my family. I enjoy every bit of being a wife and mom to 5 kiddos and everything that it entails!
1. Jenna with her nursing students on clinicals. 2. Jenna in Haiti working in a local hospital. 3. Jenna receiving her nursing pin.