Nursing Students Receive Indigenous Achievement Awards
Three College of Nursing students receive USask Indigenous Student Achievement Awards.
Annually the University of Saskatchewan (USask) celebrates Métis, First Nations, and Inuit students during Indigenous Achievement Week. The 2023 celebration was hosted March 6th – 10th.
On Thursday, March 9th at the Gordon Oakes Red Bear Student Centre, the Indigenous Student Achievement Awards brought together the USask community to honour students from across USask for their academic achievement, leadership, research, resiliency, and community engagement.
The College of Nursing is proud to announce we had three highly deserving students receive awards this year.
Jenna Bear
Leadership Award
From: Mosquito Grizzly Bear’s Head Lean Man First Nation; raised in Little Pine First Nation
Program: Bachelor of Science in Nursing, 4th Year, Saskatoon Campus
After working as a continuing care aid for ten years, Jenna decided she wanted to be more involved in patient care and enrolled in the Bachelor of Science in Nursing program. Since starting her studies, Jenna has faced a number of obstacles while balancing her personal life with her academic commitments.
Jenna has taken what she learned from these obstacles to help other nursing students as a mentor. She is the Indigenous representative on the Saskatchewan Nursing Student Association in Saskatoon, works with College of Nursing advisors to host mentorship events, and volunteers to assist with college recruitment events. Jenna is both a mentor and presenter with the Brave Spaces project, a pilot project to provide support for students, as they navigate their first clinical experience in the Bachelor of Science in Nursing program. She shows exemplary leadership and diplomacy in everything she is involved with in the College of Nursing and in the larger community with her advocacy work in the area of addictions.
Jessica Harper
Academic Achievement Award
From: Onion Lake Cree Nation
Program: Master of Nursing Primary Health Care Nurse Practitioner, Off-Campus
Jessica began working as a registered nurse in her home community in 2018. Her ongoing commitment to Indigenous health and education led her to enrol in the Master of Nursing Nurse Practitioner program at USask in 2021. Since beginning her program, Jessica has excelled academically. After graduation, she hopes to work as a nurse practitioner within her community.
Tanis Moberly
Leadership Award
From: Birch Narrows Dene Nation
Program: Bachelor of Science in Nursing, 4th Year, Saskatoon Campus
Throughout her Bachelor of Science in Nursing program, Tanis has embraced her culture and excelled at sharing Indigenous ways of knowing and perspectives with her peers, her instructors, and at the school where she completed her community health placement. She uses both formal education and casual conversations to provide leadership to others.
Tanis is consistently reflective on her learning and strives for continuous improvement in her work. She will be presenting at the upcoming 2023 Canadian Association of Schools of Nursing conference in Newfoundland, where the theme of the conference is Anti-Discriminatory Pedagogy in Nursing Education. Her presentation is titled, It's in my DNA: How an Indigenous nursing student found their voice in community health nursing.
“Congratulations to Jenna, Jessica, and Tanis, our Indigenous Student Achievement Award recipients for 2023. I am proud of all our Indigenous nursing students’ success, but in particular these students, who are being recognized for their academic achievements and for being leaders both among their peers and in their communities.” — College of Nursing dean Dr. Solina Richter (DCur)