The Boston College Chronicle

Boston College, says Finnegan Award winner Kristin Jacques, "changes you inside out. Community service and volunteering - they're in the air here. I've been constantly motivated by the people around me who do amazing things." (Photo: Lee Pellegrini)

Finnegan Winner Relishes Nursing, Leadership

By Sean Smith
Chronicle Editor

Connell School of Nursing 2007 graduate Kristin Jacques has that all important characteristic found in both good nurses and good leaders: She looks for where the need is, then goes about filling it.

Helping establish a Boston College chapter for a national professional organization, working the overnight shift at University Health Services, reaching out to Boston's more vulnerable populations - Jacques has impressed friends, peers, teachers and mentors alike with her quiet, unassuming and effective brand of leadership.

In recognition of her achievements, Jacques was selected for the Rev. Edward Finnegan, SJ, Award as the senior who exemplifies the University's motto, "Ever to Excel." If nursing wasn't in Jacques' genes, she certainly had a favorable predisposition for it: Her aunt was a nurse and her mother is a registrar at the Central Maine Medical School of Nursing. While her high school friends were getting summer jobs in fast food restaurants and grocery stores, she decided to do something else. She worked with Central Maine to offer a nursing class for high school students. "I think that's what really hooked me on nursing," she says. "You think you've seen it all, and then you see something new. It keeps you on your toes. Most of all, you have the opportunity to truly give of yourself to people who need you."

Jacques' brother Matt is a 2001 BC graduate, and she says there wasn't much doubt that she too would spend her college years at the Heights. "I fell in love with BC during my visits here. It was just a perfect fit in terms of what I felt was important: the JesuitCatholic ideals, the service component and, of course, a terrific nursing school."

Jacques has continually shown initiative in making those elements the center of her BC experience. As an underclassman, for example, she was instrumental in founding and coleading the BC chapter of the National Student Nurses' Association (NSNA). Last month, she and seven classmates represented BC at the NSNA annual convention.

"I just thought it was something the school and the students really needed," she says. "The association is so key to networking, mentoring and other activities that help nursing students as they're starting out.

"In nursing, you have your own particular schedule - like getting up at 5 a.m. to go to your clinical rotation - and demands that are different than those in other programs. So for a nursing student in the context of a larger university, it's also important to have the kind of moral and emotional support an NSNA chapter provides."

Jacques' devotion to cura personalis, meanwhile, is evident in her mentoring activities at the Women's Resource Center and her tutoring in the Connors Family Learning Center. "Students who have worked with Kristin have progressed from unsatisfactory performance to passing skill competency exams with distinction - a very high achievement level in the course," notes Assoc. Prof. Robin Wood, the Connell School's nursing laboratories director.

"Her personal accomplishments exemplify ëEver to Excel,' but what is even more outstanding about Kristin is her ability to motivate and assist her classmates to live up to that challenge," adds CSON Associate Dean Cathy Read.

In addition, Jacques has helped care for ill students during the wee hours in BC Health Services ("I don't mind it at all. I love being up at night and caring for people."), worked at a summer camp for children with diabetes and has conducted an independent study on the needs of homeless and atrisk persons in Boston. For the latter project, she went every week to local shelters where she gave blood pressure screenings and counseling.

"I know that through the study I learned a lot about perseverance. Here were men and women who have a lot of problems in their lives, but they keep getting up each day and finding the joy in life. That's the beauty of nursing: It puts your own life in perspective."

In the immediate future, Jacques' life will consist of another stint at the summer camp, as assistant nursing coordinator, and then a return to Boston in the fall to formally begin her nursing career at Children's Hospital (on the night shift). She'll also be in the Connell School graduate program, which means BC will continue to be near, and dear, to her.

"BC turned out to be so much more than I thought. It changes you inside out. Community service and volunteering - they're in the air here. I've been constantly motivated by the people around me who do amazing things.

"I'm glad that I'll still be here for a while, but no matter where I go I know I have BC in my heart and spirit." •


Home • About • Calendar • People • Forum • Archive	May 24, 2007 • Volume 15 Number 18
Boston College, says Finnegan Award winner Kristin Jacques, "changes you inside out. Community service and volunteering - they're in the air here. I've been constantly motivated by the people around me who do amazing things." (Photo: Lee Pellegrini) Finnegan Winner Relishes Nursing, Leadership By Sean Smith Chronicle Editor Connell School of Nursing 2007 graduate Kristin Jacques has that all important characteristic found in both good nurses and good leaders: She looks for where the need is, then goes about filling it. Helping establish a Boston College chapter for a national professional organization, working the overnight shift at University Health Services, reaching out to Boston's more vulnerable populations - Jacques has impressed friends, peers, teachers and mentors alike with her quiet, unassuming and effective brand of leadership. In recognition of her achievements, Jacques was selected for the Rev. Edward Finnegan, SJ, Award as the senior who exemplifies the University's motto, "Ever to Excel." If nursing wasn't in Jacques' genes, she certainly had a favorable predisposition for it: Her aunt was a nurse and her mother is a registrar at the Central Maine Medical School of Nursing. While her high school friends were getting summer jobs in fast food restaurants and grocery stores, she decided to do something else. She worked with Central Maine to offer a nursing class for high school students. "I think that's what really hooked me on nursing," she says. "You think you've seen it all, and then you see something new. It keeps you on your toes. Most of all, you have the opportunity to truly give of yourself to people who need you." Jacques' brother Matt is a 2001 BC graduate, and she says there wasn't much doubt that she too would spend her college years at the Heights. "I fell in love with BC during my visits here. It was just a perfect fit in terms of what I felt was important: the JesuitCatholic ideals, the service component and, of course, a terrific nursing school." Jacques has continually shown initiative in making those elements the center of her BC experience. As an underclassman, for example, she was instrumental in founding and coleading the BC chapter of the National Student Nurses' Association (NSNA). Last month, she and seven classmates represented BC at the NSNA annual convention. "I just thought it was something the school and the students really needed," she says. "The association is so key to networking, mentoring and other activities that help nursing students as they're starting out. "In nursing, you have your own particular schedule - like getting up at 5 a.m. to go to your clinical rotation - and demands that are different than those in other programs. So for a nursing student in the context of a larger university, it's also important to have the kind of moral and emotional support an NSNA chapter provides." Jacques' devotion to cura personalis, meanwhile, is evident in her mentoring activities at the Women's Resource Center and her tutoring in the Connors Family Learning Center. "Students who have worked with Kristin have progressed from unsatisfactory performance to passing skill competency exams with distinction - a very high achievement level in the course," notes Assoc. Prof. Robin Wood, the Connell School's nursing laboratories director. "Her personal accomplishments exemplify ëEver to Excel,' but what is even more outstanding about Kristin is her ability to motivate and assist her classmates to live up to that challenge," adds CSON Associate Dean Cathy Read. In addition, Jacques has helped care for ill students during the wee hours in BC Health Services ("I don't mind it at all. I love being up at night and caring for people."), worked at a summer camp for children with diabetes and has conducted an independent study on the needs of homeless and atrisk persons in Boston. For the latter project, she went every week to local shelters where she gave blood pressure screenings and counseling. "I know that through the study I learned a lot about perseverance. Here were men and women who have a lot of problems in their lives, but they keep getting up each day and finding the joy in life. That's the beauty of nursing: It puts your own life in perspective." In the immediate future, Jacques' life will consist of another stint at the summer camp, as assistant nursing coordinator, and then a return to Boston in the fall to formally begin her nursing career at Children's Hospital (on the night shift). She'll also be in the Connell School graduate program, which means BC will continue to be near, and dear, to her. "BC turned out to be so much more than I thought. It changes you inside out. Community service and volunteering - they're in the air here. I've been constantly motivated by the people around me who do amazing things. "I'm glad that I'll still be here for a while, but no matter where I go I know I have BC in my heart and spirit." •
top of page

Home • About • Calendar • People • Forum • Archive

May 24, 2007 • Volume 15 Number 18

Finnegan Winner Relishes Nursing, Leadership

By Sean Smith Chronicle Editor

top of page

By Sean Smith
Chronicle Editor