Volume 10 • Issue 2 • Spring 2006
International student chooses nursing
career at St. John's
 A
few years ago and half a world away in the southeast Asia city-state of
Singapore, LiLi Yong was living a comfortable life as a stockbroker. She
worked in one of the financial district’s tallest buildings overlooking
the Singapore River. Yet, she felt something was missing.
Before she became a stockbroker, Yong dreamed of becoming a nurse but took
the advice of her family and close friends to steer clear of the nursing
field. Nurses in Singapore were overworked and underpaid.
September 11, 2001 changed her mind.
Singapore, bordered by Muslim countries, became a known terrorist target
and lost its luster for Yong and many of her peers. She decided to leave
the career she felt was “five years of being sidetracked”, and look into
nursing school.
“In Singapore, I was all right financially, but I wanted to do something
that makes a difference. I told God, if he opens the door, I’m ready to
serve,” Yong says.
Yong’s sister Lisa invited her to come to the U.S. to live with her and
her husband and attend nursing school. They had settled in Springfield
several years before. Lisa’s husband works as a microbiologist for St.
John’s.
“ … I chose St. John’s because it’s a Christian school. I’m a born-again
Christian and felt my first base (in the United States) should be
Christian,” she says.
Yong bravely took on the challenges of switching careers, immersing
herself in a new culture and starting over at nearly age 40. She also
faced financial challenges.
“I knew when I came here, I didn’t have enough money,” she says. She
figured she would get as much nursing education as she could afford.
She started the associate degree program in nursing at St. John’s/SBU
College of Nursing in the spring of 2004 and was quickly awarded a
full-ride scholarship through St. John’s Foundation for Community Health.
Each year, one student is awarded a full-ride scholarship from the J.F.
Johnson Nursing Scholarship Fund. Yong was chosen based on recommendations
from faculty, academic achievement, a personal interview and an essay she
prepared.
After graduating in December 2005, Yong took a job in St. John’s
Hospital’s Medical Intensive Care Unit. She says there’s no place she’d
rather be.
“You must love people,” Yong says of her new career. “You must want to
care for people. Otherwise, the stress is tough. Every day, I ask God to
give me lots of love for my patients.”
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Building On A Rich
Heritage |
St. John’s/SBU
College of Nursing is a venture between Southwest Baptist University
and St. John’s Health System. The college offers programs leading to
the associate of science in nursing degree and a degree completion
program for registered nurses who wish to earn a bachelor of science
in nursing.
The college’s nursing program builds on a rich heritage that began
with the founding of the St. John’s School of Nursing in 1905 and
continued with the transition to the AND program through SBU in
1996. St. John’s Foundation for Community Health began offering
tuition assistance for nursing students after the late J.F. Johnson
left a generous bequest in his estate dedicated to nursing
education. The earnings from that fund have provided more than $2
million in financial assistance to nearly 300 nursing students. |
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