Scholarships fuel nursing student's community outreach

Growing up in the Hispanic community in Opelika, Alabama, Karla Guerra saw healthcare barriers at every turn: no insurance, a lack of transportation, language obstacles and families forced to choose between putting food on the table and paying for medicine.

But she also saw Auburn College of Nursing faculty caring for her neighbors at a mobile wellness clinic — and that inspired her.

“When I saw Auburn nurses helping out in the community, I just knew I wanted to be an Auburn nurse, too,” she said. “I want to advocate for those with barriers to healthcare, and that has fueled my passion for nursing. I knew Auburn had plenty of outreach opportunities in the community, and I wanted to be a part of that.”

Thanks to the Auburn Family’s support, this first-generation college student is turning opportunity into action — learning, conducting research and serving the community with purpose.

“Scholarships do more than just pay my tuition — they have opened a lot of doors for me,” Guerra said. “Not having to work has allowed me to be a part of every organization here at the College of Nursing.”

Involvement is key

Guerra was a high school student when she began working alongside nurses at East Alabama Health’s Neighborhood Mobile Wellness Clinic, where uninsured patients can get free health screenings, prescriptions and referrals to specialists.

Now that she’s in college, she has maintained her ties with the community, using her position as president of the college’s Student Nurses Association to introduce her peers to volunteer opportunities with local non-profit Esperanza House. She’s active in the college in a myriad of clubs and as a Student Ambassador while also serving in campus leadership roles with the Auburn University Spanish Club, the Latinx Student Alliance and the Aubie Committee.

She has traveled with the College of Nursing on an outreach study abroad trip to Ecuador, where she put her Spanish speaking skills to use caring for local patients. She also helped the college gain funding for its Success in Scrubs mentoring program, successfully pitching the project to the Auburn Alumni Association for its Creed Grant program.

Guerra said scholarship support gives students time to invest in experiences that build character and shape who they become.

“Being involved on campus has helped me build resilience and leadership skills,” she said. “I can testify that students who have scholarships take advantage of the extra time they have, whether it's by being a part of organizations, making an impact in the community or finding other ways to fuel their passion and remind them of their ‘why’ for their career.”

Time for research

When she became a nursing student, Guerra realized the faculty’s work at the mobile clinic went beyond checking blood pressures and sugar levels — they were also conducting research into the very barriers she longed to address.

“They’re learning how people at the mobile clinic manage their health and then using that information to conduct research behind the scenes,” she said. “It's really cool how nurses are not just providing hands-on care, they’re also working to solve the actual root problems of barriers to healthcare.”

Guerra is now diving into research herself, helping Assistant Clinical Professor Kathy McAdory study Hispanic families’ vaccine access and Assistant Professor Sarah Watts learn about breast cancer prevention education. Since her mother was recently diagnosed with stage zero breast cancer, she knows that community care is vital to early detection.  

 

“There are free mammograms in October, since it’s Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and that’s when my mom’s cancer was found,” she said. “If she hadn’t had that free screening, they never would have detected it.”

With her mom as inspiration, Guerra will present the study’s findings alongside Watts at the National Association of Hispanic Nurses’ national conference this summer.

“We are hopeful that nurses attending the conference can learn about the work we do at the mobile wellness clinic and take those ideas back to their communities,” she said.

Looking to the future

Guerra’s future is full of possibilities, but she already knows where she wants to begin — in the emergency room, supporting patients in moments of fear and uncertainty, just as she did for her mother.

“As a nursing student, I understood a lot of medical terms, so I could explain the surgery and the medications to my mom, which helped ease her worries,” she said. “I want to advocate for patients in the hospital, and calm their fears in times of crisis, especially for families comforted by hearing someone speak Spanish.”

Guerra can already see the next step: returning to Auburn for the Master of Science in Nursing Primary Care Nurse Practitioner program and continuing the outreach work that first inspired her. To Guerra, scholarships create a ripple effect that reaches far beyond the students who receive them.

“Students with scholarships are out there making an impact while finding ways to build career skills,” she said. “When donors support scholarships, their gift doesn’t just benefit one student — it benefits the entire community.”