The DAISY Award for Extraordinary Nursing Students is designed to remind students, even on the hardest days in nursing school, why you want to be a nurse. By recognizing nursing students for the above-and-beyond care and compassion shown to patients and their families, we celebrate what it truly means to be a nurse. We honor the nurse-patient connection that makes all the difference to patients and their families in their healthcare experience and that makes great nurses truly great.

I am a Clinical Instructor for the VN Nursing Program at SJVC I would like to thank this student nurse and share my story of why this nurse is so special: This nursing student is a quiet one. He is not loud, and he does not present himself openly. As a nursing student, I can only describe him as a chill student. He never shows stress, he never shows anxiety, and he is always doing "good' and "all right" when I ask him how his shift is going. They say actions speak louder than words, no truer words can be said about him. Where this student is loud and makes the most impact is his uncanny ability to make patients feel at ease and they love him.

I knew he was going to be a forerunner for a possible DAISY Award when during Labor and Delivery rotation where many times a male student nurse is not often welcomed into such a wonderful but also very intimate event. But not only was this student allowed to participate, but the baby was also named after him! I never heard of that. He had the knack for making that patient and family welcome him with open arms and feel inclined to name a baby after him. What an honor, and you know what type of positive impression and impact this student had to have on the patient and her family.

Time and time again, I watch him interact with patients. Something about his quiet and low-key chill attitude immediately puts every patient he interacts with at ease, they trust him, they allow him to interact with them and most of all they love him. I even have had patients remember him by name and ask for him after being discharged and admitted back to the hospital several months later. A student nurse. He is very purposeful and takes his time with each patient. He develops a sense of trust and security with each patient because he does not rush in and out of the room. Patients feel cared for and paid attention to. They know that despite being a student nurse, he has put them at ease and has the ability to quickly establish trust with them. My nomination for the DAISY Award is Misael Ledezma.