Clayton State Professors Visit Morrow High School to Discuss Careers in Nursing
(November 3, 2025) - A team of professors from the Clayton State University School of Nursing recently visited Morrow High School to share their passion for nursing and explain the future job opportunities available to students pursuing a nursing degree at Clayton State.
Professor Chyrel Lynn Panlilio shared with the students that polls have consistently ranked nursing as the most trusted profession in the United States. She explained to them that a nurse's job is to promote health, prevent illness, restore health, and alleviate suffering. To accomplish these things, Professor Panlilio shared the six “Cs” or qualities of nurses. Nurses are caring, compassionate, courageous, competent, communicators, and committed. Many people encounter nurses in hospitals caring for family members, which goes a long way toward making nursing such a well-respected profession. Other grant team members that assisted with the seminar were Dr. Lisa Smiley, Dr. Victoria Foster and the newly hired student navigator, Ms. Georgina Howard.
The College of Health School of Nursing visits high schools in the area and educates students on the need for nurses in the workforce, which is sponsored by the Georgia Board of Healthcare Workforce grant and known as the Nursing Education Program Expansion Grant (NEPEG), written by Dr. Victoria Foster, Dr. Kimberly Campbell and Dr. Terri Summers. It is specifically designed to support nursing training programs in expanding the pipeline of nursing professionals able to fill these jobs and to improve the nation’s healthcare system.
Ongoing efforts to build and expand partnerships with secondary schools will continue as the School of Nursing seeks innovative ways to boost enrollment. Additionally, faculty will actively pursue various funding opportunities to support student success and help develop a long-term nursing workforce that meets Georgia’s healthcare needs.
Morrow High School students learned about the many career opportunities in the nursing profession. Professor Panlilio and other members of the Clayton State School of Nursing discussed specialties, including Surgical, Pediatric, Obstetric, Psychiatric Mental Health, Hospice, Home Health, Operating Room, Emergency Department, ICU (Intensive Care Unit), NICU (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit), and Military. Nurses could also be experts in areas that don’t require “bedside” patient care, such as Informatics Nurses who focus on computer technology to improve healthcare and Administrative Nurses who manage nursing departments.
Under this grant program, Dr. Victoria Foster, who serves as the Director of Undergraduate Nursing Programs at Clayton State, along with other grant team members, is responsible for choosing mentors and mentees, overseeing the information sessions, ordering supplies, and assisting with the hiring of the additional faculty member and Student Navigator.
During the summer and fall semesters, pre-nursing informational seminars will be held twice per semester to build a core group of students primed and prepared for entry into the nursing program. The goal is to reach 100 students per session for a total of 200 students for the grant period. These informational seminars will be open to middle and high school students, first-year university students, and sophomore health science majors to explain the necessary nursing entry requirements, the school of nursing curriculum, and nursing career pathways.