The Fuld Leadership Program
Fuld Fellowships
Rebecca Wheeler
Biographical Sketch
Leader in the Making (Rebecca Wheeler heads NSNA)
Biographical Sketch
Rebecca Wheeler
Senior Rebecca Wheeler never felt locked into any long-range career plan, and that's turned out to be a good thing, allowing her to follow her interests and opportunities as they have arisen. Her family first suggested a career in nursing (her father and sister are doctors and her mother is a nurse) when Rebecca became restless in the teaching profession. Nursing had all the components she was looking for - the opportunity to work directly with people and to utilize her teaching skills, flexibility, and the chance to make a difference.
Originally from Connecticut, Rebecca had a life-changing international experience when she lived with a family in a small town in Spain the summer before her senior year of high school. This led her to choose Middlebury College in Vermont, from which she graduated with degrees in Spanish and history. She also built on her former experience in Spain by returning to spend her entire junior year in Madrid. After college, she moved back to Spain for four more years, where she taught English, perfected her Spanish and learned French. Her experience attempting to secure health care when she was sick in Spain gave her a particular sensitivity to the plight of those who are outsiders to any community.
Upon returning home she earned a degree in Teaching English as a Second Language from Columbia University’s Teachers College in New York, followed by ten years teaching middle and high school Spanish. A job at Pace Academy brought her to Atlanta in 1996, where she fell in love with the vibrant southern city. Rebecca chose Emory for her nursing education because of its commitment to international and community health. She is excited about opportunities to use her Spanish skills in health care, and can’t wait to participate in the Migrant Farm Worker Program.
She has brought with her to Emory an immense enthusiasm and commitment to nursing and professional involvement. She began on the state level, being elected Second Vice President of the Georgia Association for Nursing Students (GANS) in October, 2004. Yet she realized she wanted to reach further and go to the national level, so she ran for and won the presidency of the National Student Nurses’ Association (NSNA) in April, 2005. One of her first responsibilities as NSNA president was to represent American student nurses at the International Council of Nursing in Taiwan, where she met world nursing leaders and learned the commonality of the issues faced by American nurses and nurses around the world.
Rebecca envisions a nursing career working with the Latino community as a Family Nurse Practitioner as well as with organizations involved in national and international health policy. She believes a strong foundation in community health is necessary for her to make instrumental change in the larger world of health care. Her passion to make a difference is grounded in the plight of individuals, saying, "I love getting into the story of what's really going on."
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