Though Shenandoah may not look like Hogwarts, it met the rest of the criteria Sarah R. Wohld ’15 was looking for in a university. Wohld dragged her parents to 20 different schools all along the East Coast and that’s how she learned Shenandoah was the place for her.
“I wanted to be able play field hockey at the college level, travel the world and still be a successful nursing student,” said Wohld. “Most other colleges told me no, there’s no way you could do all three. But from the very moment I stepped on campus, SU told me yes!”
Wohld felt like she was with family and friends, and not a whole room full of strangers. This was important to her and her parents since she would be living far from their home in New Jersey.
“Everyone from the students to the faculty to the coaches were (and remained) so open and welcoming,” said Wohld. “Tracy Fitzsimmons even introduced herself to me and she knew my name! The president of the entire university knew me! I was not wearing a nametag either. Shenandoah made it quite obvious I was home.”
During her time at Shenandoah, Wohld was captain of the field hockey team for two years. She was selected for the Global Citizenship Project (GCP) trip to Rwanda in 2013. She also assisted in a nursing mission trip to Brazil in 2015 and met some of her best friends in the entire world.
Wohld is now a registered nurse in the Neonatal, Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at Inova Children’s Hospital in Falls Church, Virginia. She cares for sick and premature babies at the second largest NICU on the East Coast. In order for Wohld and her colleagues to be successful, they must have excellent teamwork. She learned how important teamwork was at SU.
“Shenandoah is all about creating your campus family and utilizing teamwork to create the best version of yourself,” said Wohld. “I wouldn’t be where I am today if it wasn’t for the lessons I learned while at SU.”
Wohld believes she is very lucky because she gets to welcome the tiniest and/or sickest babies into this world. She said the best part about working in the NICU is, “to see those tiny babies that I have worked with for months, who started out weighing less than a soda can, go home with their families as happy and healthy babies!”
The advice that Wohld has for future students is: “Don’t give up. Nursing is HARD. It is supposed to be hard. You are learning to care for the sick, you can’t expect that to be easy. For every hard day you have, you will have a thousand more good days once you become a nurse and see how your work truly saves and changes lives.”