Two Georgia Southern nursing students were awarded the St. Joseph’s/Candler Georgia Southern University Nightingale Scholarship on Sept. 28 in the St. Joseph Candler ballroom in Savannah, Georgia.

Senior nursing majors Jessica Hertzog and Retha Rowe were each given a $1500 scholarship with an additional $1500 given to both students by a anonymous donor.

The Nightingale scholarship was created by the St. Joseph’s/Candler Foundations, which was to honor the five GS nursing students who died on their way to their last day of clinical rotations on I-16 back in the spring of 2015.

Hertzog is encouraged to continue her education with the help of the scholarship.

“The financial benefit of this scholarship will allow me to focus to solely on my nursing studies for this semester and next,” Hertzog said. “Not only that, but the honor of receiving this scholarship will motivate me to strive to be the best nurse that I can be, so that I may honor the memory of those five exemplary nursing students.”

The scholarship was initially created to award one student, but both Hertzog and Rowe each exemplified professional nursing practice, resulting in both being rewarded.

Rowe hopes that the scholarship will inspire nursing students to put forth the effort in the nursing studies.

“I hope that this scholarship influences nursing students to give it their all. The symbolism behind this scholarship just makes me want to work harder,” Rowe said. “In nursing school, it’s a lot of work and a lot of dedication that you have to put in and I’m just grateful that they saw that in me.”

GS students like Niche Brewer, sophomore exercise major, believe that this scholarship is beneficial for all nursing students.

“My roommate is actually a nursing major and is about $20,000 in debt and that’s a lot of money,” Brewer said. “So that extra scholarship can come in handy for those in her field.”

James Rowe, senior exercise science major, believes that the scholarship brings awareness to the story behind it.

“I think that this scholarship could raise awareness about what happened to the young ladies. It will bring awareness to the scholarship and the stories regarding those five young ladies,” Rowe said. “I think that the scholarship is a great way to honor them.”