News, Events and Awards

The 2022 FNU Student Leadership Awards winners are:

First and was inducted as a 2021 Fellow at the American Academy of Nursing.

“Your voice matters. If nursing collectively as the largest healthcare profession can unify our voice, then we have the capacity to change the country,” Dr. Raderstorf said in his keynote address. “I hope to see you impact the lives of many throughout the communities that you serve.”

The commencement ceremony also included the presentation of the university’s annual leadership awards, honoring the students who provided exceptional leadership to their peers.

Kitty Ernst Nurse-Midwifery Student Leadership Award:

Joanna Wilder, CNEP, Class 189, Tigard, Oregon

Joanna Wilder closed her homebirth practice in Arizona after eight years in order to focus on her studies to become a certified nurse-midwife. Her family moved to Oregon, and she joined the Oregon affiliate of the American College of Nurse-Midwives, serving on the Board as the student representative for Frontier Nursing University.

“My clinical experiences in rural Oregon serving immigrant and Old Order families fostered a commitment to provide healthcare to underserved areas of Oregon after graduation,” she said. “I pursued multiple scholarships and am graduating with no debt so that I can move seamlessly into serving the immigrant community.”

Women’s Health Care Nurse Practitioner Student Leadership Award:

Shauntey Singletary, WHCNP, Class 196, Seaford, Delaware

Shauntey Singletary’s leadership extends beyond FNU to a number of nursing organizations. She is a member of the American Nurses Association (ANA), the Delaware Nurses Association (DNA), Nurse Practitioners in Women’s Health (NPWH), Delaware Coalition of Nurse Practitioners (DCNP), the American Association of Nurse Practitioners (AANP), Association of periOperative Registered Nurses (AORN), and the Association of Women’s Health, Obstetric, and Neonatal Nurses (AWHONN). She served as a Frontier Nursing University student council representative for the CWHCNP class 196 since 2020.

“As an African-American person who proudly identifies as a woman of color, I desire to open an APRNled independent practice targeting underserved minority members of my community.,” she said.

Family Nurse Practitioner Student Leadership Award: Catherine Underwood, FNP, Class 189, Wahiawa, Hawaii

After completing her graduate coursework at Frontier in January 2022, Catherine Underwood began working as a nurse practitioner at a community site aimed at providing free COVID testing to residents and visitors of Oahu. The goal of the clinic is to provide free, accessible testing and education about symptoms, disease management, vaccination, and treatment options for COVID. She resides on the island of Oahu and hopes to focus on serving the local Hawaiian and Pacific Islander populations.

“Many of the Hawaiian and Pacific Islander families live in rural areas of the island where access to health care services is limited,” she said. “The members of this community are commonly affected with chronic diseases such as diabetes, hypertension, and obesity. A community health program aimed at providing free or low-cost early intervention through screening and education could help decrease the burden of healthcare on these families and promote lifestyle changes to decrease the risk of chronic disease.”

Psychiatric-Mental Health Nurse Practitioner Student Leadership Award:

Kaitlyn Rychlowski, PMHNP, Class 191, Fond Du Lac, Wisconsin

In April 2022, Kaitlyn Rychlowski joined Marshfield Medical Center in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin, as a Behavioral Health Nurse Practitioner. The community did not have mental health services prior to her arrival.

“Throughout Marshfield Clinic Health System, my mentors have commended my advanced knowledge and skill, noting that my success reflects the rigorous education provided, with a desire to hire additional Frontier Nursing University graduates,” she said.

Doctor of Nursing Practice Student Leadership Award

Dr. Estella Wetzel, DNP, APRN, FNP-C DNP, Class 39, Beavercreek, Ohio

Since 2016, Estella Wetzel has been a nurse practitioner at Beavercreek Family Physicians in Beavercreek, Ohio. She is also regional clinical faculty at FNU. For three years, she was the lead provider in a clinic that provided free health care for students and staff in a rural community college. Under her guidance, the scope of the clinic expanded from handling only acute issues to including care for some chronic conditions, including hypertension and diabetes, keeping students in the classroom more consistently. She has also been active in researching prescriptions and their impact on patients.

“My experience working with a large number of overprescribed patients drove me to begin researching how drug test interpretation is taught,” she said. “With all the interventions that health care providers are asked to do to monitor patients prescribed controlled substances, I hope to make this easier for anyone who wishes to listen.”

Dr. Melissa Morris, DNP, Class 42, Silver Plume, CO

Melissa Morris is a family nurse practitioner/ adult gerontology acute care nurse practitioner in the urgent care and emergency departments at Denver Health Medical Center. She began her healthcare career in 2012 as a bedside nurse on a telemetry medical-surgical unit at the University of Colorado Hospital