Advancing in Nursing With Luciana Henderson, MSN Grad

After working as a nurse for almost a decade, Luciana Henderson '25MSN said she knew she could be doing more with her experience and skills. There's a nursing shortage, after all, and a new generation of nurses will need instruction and mentorship.

With teaching aspirations in mind, Henderson decided to earn a Master of Science in Nursing (MSN) with a concentration in Nursing Education from Southern New Hampshire University (SNHU). But she said her degree also introduced her to new career possibilities and reshaped how she envisions her impact in nursing moving forward.

Getting Hands-on Experience

As a working parent, Henderson opted to earn her MSN online, but she still had opportunities to gain hands-on experience during her program. She said she was grateful for her family's support throughout — both in helping with childcare and agreeing to be assessed for her assignments.

"There was one class where I had to do live videos of an assessment," she said. "I really relied on my mom to watch my daughter so I could assess my husband for the videos."

In addition to that experiential learning in her online coursework, her program also required her to complete clinical experience in her area. "For it being an online program, I really appreciate having that as part of the requirements to complete, because it really allowed me to see a different side of nursing hands-on," she said.

Henderson called that clinical experience the most impactful part of her program, further familiarizing her with a role she had grown interested in. "The clinical aspect of it was the most important and significant for me," she said. "Learning from different nurse leaders was extremely beneficial."

She said her courses taught her more about nurse leadership and inspired her to start seeing herself as a leader, too. "I just became more interested in how I could be more involved in a nursing leader role, and that actually started to shape my plans in the next five years and what I actually want to do," she said.

Growing Into Leadership

In the future, Henderson said she could picture herself working in an academic environment. But for the time being, she plans to work as a clinical instructor within a hospital, the intersection of the two sides of the work that she loves. "I'll be still in the hospital and in an education standpoint, so I'm gonna start there," she said.

In addition to those pursuits in clinical instruction, Henderson said she's already leveraged her MSN while developing her leadership experience at work.

"I've actually recently joined my unit-based practice council after being able to complete this program, because I feel like that's one step in allowing me to be more involved in big decisions at my job," she said. "I think this program gave me the confidence and inspiration to really get my voice heard in the workplace as well."

With a new vision for her career already taking shape, Henderson said she was proud to celebrate her path to the graduation stage. "Earning my master's degree was one thousand percent worth it," she said.

Mars Girolimon '21 '23G is a staff writer at Southern New Hampshire University where they earned their bachelor's and master's, both in English and creative writing. In addition to their work in higher education, Girolimon's short fiction is published in the North American Review, So It Goes by The Kurt Vonnegut Museum & Library, X-R-A-Y and more. Connect with them on LinkedIn.