Mount Marty University Student Brings Awareness and Opportunity to Yankton Campus

Junior nursing student Lauryn Bernt sees today's national blood shortage as both a critical challenge and an exciting opportunity. “I’m going to need a lot of help,' she mentions thinking after being tasked with bringing blood drives to the Mount Marty University campus. “And, a lot of help I got.” She received support not only from faculty and staff, but also from her own peers in setting up, working the drives, and gathering donors.

Bernt first heard about Mount Marty from a family friend who graduated through the nursing program previously and found herself an internship with the Mayo Clinic campus in Rochester, Minn. her junior year. She was enticed by that story and researched the university more. “I came in tune with its faith values, and the foundation that it built on the Catholic Benedictine faith. I thought that was very cool and interesting for me coming here as a Catholic, and knowing that I could get such a great nursing education while also building my faith at the same time, that was really intriguing to me.”

During Bernt’s junior year, she received the Red Cross Collegiate Leadership Program scholarship. With this scholarship, Bernt traveled to Washington, D.C. along with other scholarship winners to learn not only about the Red Cross organization but also to grow as a leader. The group had opportunities to talk with senators, the Chief Medical Officer of Red Cross, and its CEO, Gail McGovern, then returned to their respective campuses with a mission: Bernt was to partner with Mount Marty to host blood drives on campus that would help increase availability of blood products across the country.

The Mount Marty Red Cross Club, which Bernt founded, had one blood drive per semester this year with each drive lasting two days. “We had a goal of 60 units at each drive over two days,” explains Bernt. This number was intimidating at first to Bernt as donors are only able to donate blood every 56 days for their health and safety. With the drive spanning two days, this decreases the amount of donors you can have compared to a one day drive. Yet, the Mount Marty Red Cross Club has met their goal of 60 pints per drive.

This opportunity aided Bernt in learning more about her passion for advocacy. “Health policy and advocacy have always been a passion of mine,” comments Bernt, “whether it’s doing a presentation in class or something like this at the national level. I just love being able to bring change and awareness for the betterment of others.” She is especially grateful for her scholarship as the opportunities she was presented amplified her current passion and opened her eyes to other career options.

Bernt is also the Resolutions Director of the South Dakota Student Nurses Association and wrote her resolution this year on the blood shortage as this is a prevalent topic both nationally and in her personal life. She encouraged the National Student Nurses Association to support awareness, advocate, and educate on the shortage’s risk to patient care and presented her resolution at the national convention in Florida. Bernt will be president of the local Mount Marty Student Nurses Association this coming school year and is also involved in student government association, mission scholars, theatre, and choir.

Bernt hopes to continue the Red Cross Club and blood drives after she graduates next school year by passing it down to another student to oversee, and she looks forward to discovering new opportunities in which she can affect change in her years to come. She is currently growing as a future nurse through her summer internship opportunity at the Mayo Clinic campus in Rochester, Minn. where she has always aspired to be after hearing about Mount Marty from her family friend.

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ABOUT MOUNT MARTY UNIVERSITY

Founded in 1936 by the Benedictine Sisters of Sacred Heart Monastery, Mount Marty University is South Dakota's only Catholic institution of higher education. Located along the bluffs of the Missouri River in Yankton, with additional locations in Watertown and Sioux Falls, Mount Marty offers undergraduate and graduate degrees focusing on student and alumni success in high-demand fields such as health sciences, education, criminal justice, business, accounting, and more. A community of learners in the Benedictine tradition, Mount Marty emphasizes academic excellence and develops well-rounded students with intellectual competence, professional and personal skills and moral, spiritual and social values. To learn more, visit mountmarty.edu.