Nursing student’s hectic life recipe for success

Junior nursing major Keri Hearn holds the title of Miss MHB 2008 and has been a Cru cheerleader for the past three years. She still manages to keep up her hectic schedule as a nursing student with a motivation to succeed.

“Everything that I am involved in is rewarding and something I enjoy,” Hearn said. “Therefore, it is easy to be dedicated to all of it, but it is definitely stressful at times.”

During the 2008 Miss MHB pageant, her platform was devoted to medical missions. She believes she will be able to carry out what God has called her to do involving medicine through this opportunity.

“Being Miss MHB is a tremendous blessing,” she said. “One of the main joys that I am finding about being Miss MHB is the ability to implement my platform, ... igniting passion and bringing hope through medical missions.”

Nursing has been something that Hearn has found interesting and is one of the main reasons she chose to come to this university.

“I started thinking about nursing my senior year when my sister and I came to visit UMHB, and we were told how strong the nursing program is here,” she said.

She has also been involved with cheerleading for a large portion of her life and was excited to be able to continue it in college.

“I love cheerleading and the atmosphere that being on the squad provides,” she said. “And it’s fun to cheer for winning teams.”

Despite her busy schedule, Hearn receives support from her twin sister, junior Spanish major Kelli. The two have been inseparable since birth. They have continued to live together even through college.

“I have a roommate, twin sister and a best friend all in one,” Kelli said. “Living day to day with her has brought encouragement, accountability, fun times, hard times and simply countless memories that will forever impact my life. God is so graceful to have blessed me with the opportunity to share my life with Keri.”

Kelli is excited to see what her sister will accomplish in the near future, as their college years come to a close.
“I'm so proud of Keri, and I know that the Lord is going to use her in mighty ways,” she said. “Her heart is so passionate for people and serving wherever the Lord puts her.”

Hearn has spent many years pouring herself into the lives of her family, but puts equal importance on the relationship she has built with her close friends as well.

Junior business and marketing major Allison Hulcy has been friends with Hearn since the 6th grade and thinks that she is a pleasure to be around.

“Her caring attitude, passion and willingness to aid the needs of others is noticeable to everyone she meets,” she said.

Her friends and family are not the only ones who see Hearn as a passionate young woman.

Baptist Student Ministry Director Shawn Shannon has worked with Hearn at Beach Reach for the past three years and remembers how she portrayed herself.

“She had a quiet courage to her that wasn’t foolishly bold, but wasn’t fearfully retiring,” Shannon said. “That really impressed me in a freshman. She knew why she was there, and she was very good with connecting with people about things that mattered.”

Shannon said she has watched Hearn grow over the years into a young woman who is figuring out how to put others before herself.

“She has made choices that have put her in places of purposeful discomfort and inconvenience for the sake of others,” Shannon said. “I think such things prepare her soul for a future that the rule of the day might be personal sacrifice. The present for her as I have seen it truly does hold the seed of the future she says she pictures. I see a great consistency there.”

Over the last three years Hearn’s goals toward nursing have started to take shape. This summer she is making plans to work out of the country to utilize her skills in medicine to teach others about the Lord.

“I hope to use this last summer of college to allow God to use me overseas,” Hearn said. “Two of the places I am looking at right now are Africa and Peru. My hope and desire is to go over and bring the gospel to them in a way I have never experienced by providing medical care and showing Christ’s love through evangelism.”