Ava Landon (left) and Lydia Overcash will be nursing students and members of the Fighting Scots softball team, which is a major benefit of Monmouth's new partnership with OSF HealthCare

MONMOUTH, ILLINOIS (August 26, 2025) — If this year's Fighting Scots softball team finds itself short on athletic trainers, the squad can take comfort in the fact that it boasts two members of Monmouth College's inaugural class of nursing students.

The concept of a nursing student having the time and opportunity to pursue such a cocurricular activity as intercollegiate sports might be novel, but it's a major appeal of Monmouth's new program.

"I am going to be a part of the softball team, which is one thing that was very important to me," said Lydia Overcash of Farmington, Illinois, one of 24 students enrolled in the program. "I haven't decided yet if I want to do sororities and different clubs, but I know I have the option to do so."

The best of both worlds

In May of 2024, administrators from Monmouth and OSF HealthCare signed a letter of commitment, officially launching the innovative 3+1 nursing program that will combine Monmouth's residential college experience with the Saint Francis Medical Center College of Nursing's excellent curriculum and regional healthcare facilities.

Overcash knows that balancing her academics and activities will be a challenge, but she's happy to have the opportunity and believes she'll benefit in the long run.

"Another thing that influenced me is that the program is accelerated, which could be difficult in the moment but, overall, I think will be the better option in the end," she said. "Also, with the program being paired with OSF, it gives me job opportunities and more experience in a real-world setting."

Vice-President of Academic Affairs Mark Willhardt highlights just how the new program gives nurses the best experience possible: "By combining the critical thinking, speaking, and writing foundations of a Monmouth Bachelor's degree with the medical training of the OSF curriculum, we're building durable skills that will last them a lifetime."

Graduates will be ready to take the next career step — from practitioner to mentor — and they are guaranteed a job with OSF Healthcare, provided they pass the National Council Licensure Examination.

One of the Monmouth professors involved with the coursework for the first three years of the program is Sean Schumm.

"I use my past work in teaching hospitals and health-care to give students tangible examples of how the anatomy and physiology they learn in class could be used to treat patients," he said. "That knowledge will be further refined and focused when they do their specific nursing or other healthcare-related training. We hope to not only give students a holistic experience but use the academic background and interpersonal skills they develop here to make them adaptable, knowledgeable, empathetic nurses, and health-care providers in the future."

A passion for helping people

One of Overcash's softball teammates will be Ava Landon of Williamsfield, Illinois, who chose Monmouth because it was close to home and she could continue her athletic career. She cited a passion for helping people as a reason she's attracted to nursing, and that's also true of Kyanna Jones of Davenport, Iowa.

"I've always wanted to find a profession where I can help people," said Jones, who was one of several nursing students who attended a session on health careers on the second floor of the Center for Science and Business the day before fall classes began. "I've always had that kind of feeling."

So has Overcash, who was also at the meeting.

"I've always dreamed about becoming a nurse and, specifically, a neonatal nurse," she said. "I have a passion for helping and supporting people in their most vulnerable times. I would love to be the highlight of their day and bring a smile to their face while they are having a difficult time."

Located one floor above that meeting is a new space in the CSB that will be dedicated to the program — the Medhurst Nursing Clinical Lab and Teaching Classroom. The newly-renovated space, which was originally a gift to the facility at the time of its construction a decade ago by Robert Medhurst ('53), will house four screened-off hospital beds, in addition to a classroom and other features. Its primary use will be as a space for students in their final year of the nursing program.

'Finding the right program'

Farmington and Williamsfield are both small communities, and so is Cambridge, Illinois, the hometown of another nursing student, Isabella Hull.

"I knew I wanted to do nursing," she said. "It was more about finding the right program. When I learned I could get two bachelor's degrees at Monmouth in four years, that helped my decision — I was already thinking about going here. Monmouth is a lot like where I grew up. A lot of people in my family are in nursing. I'm interested in pursuing a medical specialty, like working with the brain or the heart."

Like Hull, Lexi Logan of Kewanee, Illinois, also cited family as a reason to become a nurse.

"I've taken care of my grandma pretty much my whole life," said Logan, who participated in the college's three-week SOFIA program that preceded the fall semester. That experience led to talk of an Outdoor Society, which Logan plans to join, as well as, possibly, theatre.

"I believe we help students link what they learn in the classroom and their experiences here to their future careers, whether that's nursing or something else," said Schumm. "They get more than just a base of knowledge — they also get a better understanding of how course content will apply to future careers."

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