From the moment I had Professor Stark as an instructor, she encouraged me to do my best and be confident in my skills. I’ll never forget the day that she wanted me to participate in a medication pass with her but I felt the urge to advocate for a patient instead. She could tell that I was hesitant to tell her no, but she looked at me and said, “follow what your heart is telling you.” From that point on, I always remember those words and lead by that example. She is a compassionate, tenderhearted person that deserves all the good in the world. She is phenomenal. 

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Like the other instructors, Professor Stark had the tough challenge to teach freshman students that were in their second semester of nursing school with no clinical experience due to the pandemic. I was lucky enough to be a part of this group during my freshman year and lucky enough to have her again during my senior year. What makes her truly exceptional is her dedication to teaching us about so much more than just what is in the database. Because of her patience and effort, I became comfortable with lab values, cardiac rhythms, and cardiac medications before even learning about them in lecture. She taught me the value of patient education and building necessary relationships with staff and patients. She is one of the only instructors that made sure we showed respect to every single member of the healthcare team and helped them as best as we could. As a nursing assistant, it meant a lot to me to see her put forth the effort to build nurses that care for every staff member on the unit, as this is not always a trait nurses carry. Even when handed the tough challenge of building nurses from scratch amid a pandemic, Linda Stark exceeded all expectations and is a nurse that I look up to every day. I will cherish all the great knowledge she has given me throughout my nursing career and hope to be at least half the nurse she is one day.