Katherine Maki for Jonas Scholars Video Testimonials

Speaker: Katherine Maki

Katherine Maki: Being a Jonas scholar means being a part of a collective community who are inspired to improve the education for nurses from various levels of education, from the undergrad to the doctoral level to increase access to quality patient care in the community and for veterans through the different Jonas initiatives and also to increase my involvement and collective involvement in different important topics that are really relevant for nursing. From health care policy to increased access and social determinants of health, really through the connection, collaboration and working in the Jonas program.

Katherine Maki: The Jonas Scholars program had a pretty substantial impact on my nursing career first for providing me with financial support during my doctoral studies to help alleviate some of that financial burden. But more importantly, it gave a network of like-minded nurses who were interested it both in policy research but also different aspects of nursing that I was not as familiar with where it provided me networking experiences to see what kind of other things that nurses are doing and the differences they are making, which was really inspiring. It also provided me some additional mentorship and leadership both through the annual conference but also through just the daily, weekly, and monthly touch points that Jonas had through the website and different initiatives to stay relevant and active within the nursing community.

Katherine Maki: I would describe the Jonas nursing scholars community as a safe space, a welcoming place and really an inspiring place, a way to meet people who are similar to you, but also very different from you, which I think is really important as a nurse because if we are in an echo chamber, we aren't really getting the experiences to really better ourselves. So I do believe that really having the exposure to different nurses across the country that is being part of this Jonas community, really made me a better nurse, a better scientist and a better person. So I really appreciate the different initiatives the different educational and leadership sessions and really kind of the full 360 package of what it really took to be part of the Jonas community.

Katherine Maki: The advice I would give to a new Jonas scholar is to get involved more so than just the requirements of the the program. Because the community, the administrators, really, everybody who is involved in this really does want to make this the most fulfilling experience for you, especially during your doctoral program. But really beyond. So interacting through the website, the different networking sessions, the web education sections are all really important points. And also when you're going to a conference, let other Jonas Scholars know either through the admin or through the website. because there are really important networking sessions too and meeting other like Jonas scholars is really something that I thought was really beneficial, especially going to a new conference, really kind of helping the networking and taking some of those nerves off. But most importantly, just trying to stay involved with the community because it is a really inspiring and beneficial one.