Olivia Smith ’22, ’24 named Outstanding Islander Graduate for the College of Nursing and Health Sciences

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – In some families, a job is more than a profession — it’s a family tradition. For Olivia Smith ’22, ’24 and her family, a tradition of nursing led her to being named the College of Nursing and Health Sciences (CONHS) Outstanding Islander Graduate for Fall 2024 as she earns a Doctor of Nursing Practice.

“Health care, and specifically nursing, is in my DNA,” Smith said. “I come from a family of nurses. My grandmother, mother, two sisters, and husband are all nurses.”

The ties to medicine don’t end there. Her grandfather was a U.S. Navy Medic in World War II before becoming a dentist and her father is an oral maxillofacial radiologist. It’s her upbringing that Smith said fostered a pursuit of caring for others and for lifelong learning. The latter is a trait she believes she inherited from her mother.

“I was homeschooled, and she walked alongside us in our learning over the years,” Smith said. “I have watched her pursue lifelong learning while also raising three daughters — she showed me that I could do it.”

Her own pursuit of lifelong learning initially led Smith to Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi in 2019 to pursue her Master of Nursing Practice. She chose TAMU-CC, in part, because her sister, Josephine Arnold ’18, ’22, ’24 had attended the Island University. Arnold, coincidentally, was the CONHS Outstanding Islander Graduate in Spring 2022, when she, Smith, and their sister Sophie de Sequera ’22, ’24 all earned the same Master of Nursing Practitioner degree. 

Smith was pregnant and close to her due date, so she was unable to walk the stage with her sisters then. The three sisters, however, are again graduating together this fall, and this time joined by their mother, Glenda Deahl ’24. They’ll all attend commencement together.

“My mother graduated from Barnes Jewish Hospital in St. Louis as a diploma nurse,” Smith said. “She went to be a nurse right out of high school and lived in the hospital, working nights and going to school in the day. I have wanted to be just like her. Achieving my DNP with the woman who taught me how to read and write is incredibly special.”

Despite being a fully online student, Smith says she enjoyed the chances she had to come to the Island University campus. The San Antonio native maintained a 4.0 grade point average during her time in the DNP program.

“I applied and interviewed for this DNP program when my son was a newborn,” Smith said.  “The balance of being a mother, wife, daughter, sister, aunt, and working nurse have certainly been challenging. There were moments in the program where I wrote out a draft of my withdrawal letter to the program director, but never sent it.”

Dr. Heather DeGrande, Associate Professor of Nursing Science, has worked closely with Smith and her family.

“I love that when something is not clear, Olivia is usually the first in class to ask for clarification,” DeGrande said. “This is important as faculty because sometimes what is crystal clear to us is clear as mud to the students, so I appreciate it when they ask those questions.”

Smith describes DeGrande as an excellent mentor who has helped her better understand how to present her research in a way that makes sense to nursing colleagues as well as those in other disciplines. 

“Dr. DeGrande has sharpened my knowledge and skills, not only as a DNP student but also as a working family nurse practitioner,” Smith said. “I remember a particularly difficult stage in my project proposal development when I was having difficulty with my measurement tool. Dr. DeGrande called me on her day off to work with me and reassure me. She has also taught me to appreciate the translation of research into practice and the collaboration between those with DNP and Ph.D. expertise.”

Smith is the only DNP student to submit and have accepted her abstract for her scholarly project at the university’s Symposium for Student Innovation, Research, and Creative Activities. Her project, “Mammograms in Medically Underserved Women: Does Education and Shared Decision-Making Improve Patient Interest in Mammograms” will be presented at the Southern Nursing Research Society’s annual conference next February.

That project is just one example of how Smith plans to use the skills she’s gained from her time at the Island University, not only for her nursing practice, but to also advocate for the disadvantaged.

In addition to her mother and sisters, her husband, Eliot Smith ’24, is also graduating from TAMU-CC this fall with a Master of Nursing Leadership.