Scholarship winner pursues nursing after receiving compassionate care

Alyssa Yeoman thought she wanted to be a teacher. Then fate intervened and changed the course of her life. When Yeoman was 14, a pediatric cardiologist at Riley Hospital for Children diagnosed her with sinus tachycardia, a high resting heart rate. Tachycardia is a heart abnormality that produces rapid electrical signals so that the heart beats faster than normal. A year later, Yeoman learned she had Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, an autoimmune form of hypothyroidism. 

“Sometimes I have episodes,” she explains, “where my heart rate jumps and it becomes hard to breathe. Now when my heart races, it signifies that my thyroid medication needs an adjustment. I was offered medicine for tachycardia, but the side effects outweighed the benefits, so I’ve just learned to live with it.” 

Yeoman has done more than live with it. She’s found inspiration through her experiences. In the hospital, while being treated for sinus tachycardia and Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, clarity came: at both Riley and her local doctor’s office, Yeoman was cared for by phenomenal nurse practitioners, who, by their example, showed Yeoman her new purpose. 

“I felt so comfortable with local NP’s Terah Sproule and Mary Terry (BS’13, MS’17) and Dana Hartman (NURS’98) at Riley,” Yeoman says. “They really listened to me and cared about my getting better as well as keeping me healthy. Every time I met with them, I felt like they were 100 percent there for me. I felt heard. The compassion of these nurses made me want to become one.” 

Fast forward some years, and Yeoman fittingly wins a Purdue Alumni club scholarship, at a time when she needs it most. 

“I’m so thankful for what this scholarship has given me!” she says. “It has allowed me to study and not have to work through my first year of college. Having financial aid covered while transitioning from high school to college was a life saver for me.” The Purdue Alumni club scholarship program awards $350,000 annually to nearly 300 local students. Participating clubs across the country establish their criteria and selection based on academic and leadership qualities. 

Denton Sederquist (HHS’94, MS EDU’97), assistant director of residential life, president of the Purdue Alumni Club of Tippecanoe County, and long-term club volunteer, knows how crucial it is to financially help students. More than 70 staff members report to Sederquist, who keeps tabs on roughly 3,000 students. 

“What Purdue graduates should do as alumni is help our fellow students,” he says. “We’ve all been taught by someone, and I have no doubt Alyssa will turn around and help someone else. Whatever you call it, paying it back or paying it forward, we wouldn’t have a university without it. And who better to win that scholarship than Alyssa?” 

Terry, one of those nurses who inspired Yeoman to join the profession, was also motivated by other gifted nurses. “I always knew I wanted to be a nurse practitioner because of the great nurse practitioners I came in contact with in my early 20s,” she says. And today, she feels she learns as much from her patients as they do from her. “I feel fortunate every day to learn from my patients and constantly remind them that they are the reason I have a job! We are blessed in this community to have excellent nursing schools and opportunities. The Purdue graduate program helped strengthen my nursing career.” 

Hartman, who cared for Yeoman at Riley, feels honored to have left such a positive impression on the aspiring nurse. “I am thrilled that she’s chosen Purdue for her nursing education and excited to see where her career takes her,” Hartman says. “Based on my personal experience and from working with new nursing graduates, I’m convinced Purdue prepares its graduates in the most well-rounded way.”

After she gradutes in 2022, Yeoman wants to work as a pediatric registered nurse and gain exposure to different types of nusing, including emergency and critical care. She then plans to return to Purdue for a master’s in nursing with a primary care pediatric nurse practitioner specialization. She hopes to work in a children’s hospital in the Midwest. 

“I love the problem solving that comes with being a nurse, but it is by no means easy,” Yeoman says. “The most challenging part of nursing is accepting that there are many right answers but only one best. Determining that best answer can be difficult. But nursing is an opportunity to learn something new every day, and every challenge just makes me a better nurse.”