NURSING ALUM

Nursing alum heals by helping others Honors son with book scholarship fund

Pamela Finnie received a fateful phone call early one morning from her son serving in Afghanistan. Staff Sergeant Daniel D. Merriweather had a premonition and wanted to speak to his mother. “He said he did not think he was ever going to make it back home,” Finnie recalled of the son she tried to comfort that morning in 2010. “I encouraged him and we prayed, but I never expected to see a chaplain and military officer at my door that night.”

Merriweather had joined the United States Army in 2002, right out of high school, and served three tours overseas honorably. The chaplain informed Finnie that a roadside bomb near Kandahar had killed her son. Daniel was 25 years old.

Finnie channeled her ensuing grief the best way she knew how: honor Daniel by helping others.

Success against the odds When Finnie graduated from Southwest in 1995 with an associate degree in nursing, it was after a hard fought battle to overcome financial challenges. “Even though I worked fulltime and used a credit card, it still was not enough to cover my expenses,” she said. Finnie says scholarships from the Southwest Foundation helped her make it across the finish line. “I am thankful to Southwest for giving me the opportunity to become a nurse,” she said. Finnie would go on to complete a bachelor’s degree in nursing at Union University and a master’s in nursing education at the University of Memphis. She has enjoyed a rewarding career with stints as a clinical researcher and registered nurse for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and a nurse in Regional One Health’s high risk labor and delivery unit. Today, she is the Trauma Program Manager for Regional One’s Elvis Presley Trauma Center. “My instructors made sure I learned how to take optimum care of patients,” Finnie said of her Southwest education. “The quality of training and financial assistance I received enabled me to climb my career ladder.” Paying it forward When Finnie attended Southwest in 1995, the cost per credit hour was $42. Today, it’s $233. Although many students benefit from Tennessee Promise and Tennessee Reconnect scholarships, many of them and many others need help to buy books. A full-time student can expect to spend upwards of $650-$1,000 per semester for textbooks. Finnie knows all too well how daunting such expenses can be. She never forgot her struggle and how the generosity of others helped her succeed. After losing her son, she would heal by helping others. She and her husband, Darryl, established the SSG Daniel D. Merriweather Book Scholarship in 2011 with $500. The fund quickly grew. Friends and donors stepped in to help them with fundraising. Together, they created the Smash Up Fitness fundraiser in 2016, an annual event that pays homage to Daniel’s love for physical fitness and life. The event caught the attention of the Dog Tag Foundation, a national organization that supports the legacy projects of Gold Star families, which awarded the project $5,000. Today, the SSG Daniel D. Merriweather Scholarship is awarded to full and part-time nursing students who maintain a 2.5 GPA or better. Since fall 2012, when the first Merriweather scholarship was awarded, the Finnies have supported 18 scholarship students and raised more than $21,400. All but one of the students have gone on to become full-time nurses. Monica Russom is a registered nurse in the emergency room at Methodist University Hospital. She graduated from the nursing program in 2017. “The Merriweather scholarship was an immense help to me and my family. I now contribute annually to the scholarship as a way to give back to help other nursing students.” Travis Turner, a 2018 graduate, works as a home health nurse. “My wife was pregnant and I could not work,” he said. “The Finnie’s selfless generosity has inspired me to pay it forward to help other students when I can.” A firm believer in Southwest’s strength as an institution that cares for students, Finnie is deeply committed to supporting students along their academic journey. “Every time I am able to help a student, it is pure joy and satisfaction. I don’t expect a thank you, but when I do hear it, it’s like keeping my son alive,” she says. Helping others and remembering her son have become inseparable for Finnie. “When my son was little and played outside, he always used to say to me that if anyone got hurt, I’d be able to fix them up. So I’m fixing people up in his memory by helping nursing students achieve their degrees and excel at their careers.” To learn more about becoming a book scholarship sponsor, contact the Southwest Foundation at 901-333-4997 or visit www.southwest.tn.edu/foundation. Finnie enjoys a successful nursing career as the trauma program manager for Regional One’s Elvis Presley Trauma Center. Staff Sergeant Daniel D. Merriweather May 27, 1984 – January 13, 2010

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up to tackle recidivism among local youth Southwest, SCS team

Shelby County Schools High School Counseling Manager Jeffrey Taylor has been working with Project STAND since the program launched four years ago. He says Project STAND is the one program that is really making a difference in the lives of at-risk students.

“This is the first program I have seen that really brings long-term success because it educates the students and teaches them to advocate for themselves,” Taylor says. “Then, they are able to manage themselves.”

The Student Transition Acceleration and National Career Readiness Certificate Demonstration group partnered with Southwest this past summer to offer students career-building courses in the culinary arts, computer coding, quality assurance and SafeServ training. The federally-funded intervention program is designed to help students who have been incarcerated get back on track by preparing for college or a career. The overall goal is to reduce recidivism by helping the students find jobs while they are in high school or become certified for jobs after they graduate.

During a 4-day coding camp this past summer, 14 participants learned how to assemble circuits, some light programming and how to connect bits, boards, and buttons to bring the computer to life. “First they saw the circuit itself work,” said Forrest Smith, an assistant professor in Southwest’s Instructor Forrest Smith taught students how to build electrical circuits and use coding to make a light turn on and off.

Computer Engineering Technology Department. “Then they learned how to control it with code.”

Coding is one of the most in-demand job skills across multiple industries. Burning Glass Technologies, a leading national job analytics firm, reported programing jobs are growing 50 percent faster than the market overall, with nearly half paying $57,000 or more a year.

Ra’quon Thomas sees a future in coding. “I know that technology is going to be taking over and you can make a lot of money in this field.” Willton Cross agrees. “It can take you a long way. I would like to come back (to Southwest) and then have a job waiting for me when I graduate.”

During a second workshop, students downloaded, installed, and ran custom robotic control software and used coding to perform tasks with a robotic arm. Smith says the students got a glimpse of how coding is used to control objects in their everyday lives like their phones, video games, robots and home automation.

Student Quanterian Gray says he discovered his passion. “I would love to work around those things.”

Helping students beat the odds Shelby County Schools Division of Alternative Schools adopted Project STAND in 2016 and serves students at George Washington Carver College and Career Academy. The students face significant barriers to success. Some come from dysfunctional homes or are involved in crime or are on the streets. The National Survey on Children’s Health and Data Resources Center for Children and Adolescent Health reports around 37 percent of children in Memphis have experienced two or more traumatic events in their lives.

“Many parents are doing the best they can to just get through the day,” Taylor said. “And the kids have other issues they are dealing with in general. So it’s hard for the schools to teach them and then have to do things that they weren’t really designed to do, which is to deal with the things going on outside of school in the home.”

According to Taylor, Project STAND makes a difference by providing personalized achievement plans and learning resources that address educational, behavioral and social needs. “The great thing about Project STAND is that the mentors and volunteers develop relationships with the students to demonstrate somebody cares about them,” Taylor said. “In a city like Memphis, that has the nation’s highest rate of young adults ages 14 to 24 who are not working or in school, this special bonding is critical to keeping them from failing and helping them stay on a path to success.

“Some of these kids have made the wrong choices in life. We are working with them to keep them from making future mistakes,” Taylor said.

“ I really believe in this program. And we love working with Southwest.”

— Jeffrey Taylor

Ra’quon Thomas of Project STAND builds a light circuit using a Raspberry Pi computer during coding camp.

Instant impact, long-term results In just three short years, Project STAND is already showing positive results. Of the 156 students who have enrolled in the program, less than 10 have returned to detention. That’s a six percent recidivism rate, a tenth of the national rate.

Kevontae Harper said Project STAND has helped turn his life around. “It has helped me figure out some things about myself and helped me be the man that I want to be.” All Project STAND students take the National Career Readiness Certificate test, a certification required by many companies. According to Shelby County Schools, more 76 percent of the students pass.

“I really believe in this program. And we love working with Southwest,” Taylor said. “If we can get these kids interested and excited in some of these fields and show them different career paths, then they will enroll and go on to college and have a better shot at achieving success in their lives.” S N