ASNA would like to highlight and congratulate one of our very own members for pursuing her doctoral degree and for receiving the NASN Endowment Educational Scholarship

Huge congrats to ASD school nurse Ashley Sapp, MSN-PH, RN, NCSN for being selected to receive one of NASN’s Endowment Educational Scholarships this year to pursue her doctorate of nursing practice (DNP) in professional leadership. NASN’s president personally called her to let her know she was the recipient of a $2,500 scholarship to go towards her doctoral degree this past November. She is pursuing her doctoral degree online through Post University in Connecticut and has an expected graduation date of August 2025.

The purpose of the NASN’s Endowment Education Scholarship is to improve school nursing by assisting current professional registered school nurses or school nurse educators to pursue post baccalaureate certification or graduate degrees by providing a scholarship of up to $2,500. Recipients also receive complimentary registration to the annual NASN conference.

ASNA has supported this wonderful endowment scholarship through the years by making direct monetary donations and by donating purses to the “Satchels and Purses for Nurses” which is the Endowment Fundraising Committee’s most popular fundraising event at the NASN annual conference. We are so pleased that one of our very own members and colleagues has received this scholarship opportunity.

Ashley has been a school nurse for 7 years and has been the school nurse at Campbell Stem Elementary School for the past 3 years.  Her school is currently working on becoming the first nationally certified STEM elementary school in Alaska. Ashley currently has her BSNS, NCSN, and MSN-PH (Master of Science in Nursing with a specialization in public health & is a nationally certified school nurse).  Ashley in her spare time (school nurse/doctoral student) is a married mother of 2 (twin boys, 2 ½ years old) who loves to garden, read, cook, spend time with family & friends, all while tending to her 7 chickens and 4 dogs-phew! We are all rooting for August of 2025 to come before you know it Ashley!

Ashley’s doctoral project, which is her passion, is holistic health based which is geared at educating school nurses on alternate treatment/herbal remedies to assess attitudes and beliefs of complementary and alternative medicine. Her doctoral project should go live in September or October of 2024, and she will need school nurse volunteers to participate in an online presentation. The presentation will aim at giving clarity on herbal medication administration in the school setting, to include herbal remedies and complimentary treatments. The participation of school nurses in this study will be voluntary and more should be coming out August 2024 on her project.

Way to go Ashley! Thank you for sharing your accomplishments. We look forward to your study & presentation on holistic school nurse practices coming out soon.

Interested in supporting this great endowment? Our NASN President, Kate King, DNP, MS, RN, LSN, just recently released the NASN President’s Endowment Challenge for 2024-2025: Advocating for Equity. Learn more about the NASN President's Endowment Challenge and consider donating here. 

(Article by Sonja Mack, BSN, RN, NCSN-ASNA Webmaster)