The Morningside College Nylen School of Nursing and the Morningside Student Nurses’ Association have named Holly Schenzel of Hinton, Iowa, as the 2017 nursing alumna of the year.

The Morningside College Nylen School of Nursing and the Morningside Student Nurses’ Association have named Holly Schenzel of Hinton, Iowa, as the 2017 nursing alumna of the year.

Schenzel is a nurse practitioner in the Mayo Clinic’s Division of Hospital Internal Medicine in Rochester, Minn. She also is a part-time instructor at Morningside’s Nylen School of Nursing. Schenzel graduated from Morningside in 2005 with bachelor’s degrees in nursing and biology. In 2013, she received her doctor of nursing practice degree (with a gerontology emphasis) in the adult acute care nurse practitioner track at Creighton University in Omaha, Neb. Schenzel also is certified as an acute care nurse practitioner through the American Nurses Credentialing Center. 

Schenzel will deliver the keynote speech for the opening of the 35th annual Maud Adams Nursing Research Day on April 5 at 8 a.m. in the Yockey Family Community Room in the Olsen Student Center, 3609 Peters Ave. Morningside senior undergraduate nursing students and graduate nursing students will present their research projects from 10-11 a.m. and 2-3 p.m. April 5 in various locations on campus as part of Morningside’s Palmer Student Research Symposium.

Kali Hill from Buffalo Gap, S.D., a senior graduating this spring from Hot Springs High School., will receive the Nursing Alumni Scholarship presented in Schenzel’s honor. Hill plans to attend Morningside College in the fall. The scholarship is awarded each year to a student who shows potential for outstanding professionalism in nursing.

The Maud Adams Nursing Research Day started in 1983 as a tribute to the late Maud Adams, a former chair of Morningside’s nursing department. Before she came to Morningside, Adams served as a staff nurse, instructor, and administrator in various public health agencies and nursing programs.