With an abundance of awards to her credit, one might find it difficult to pinpoint Lauren Lowe’s greatest achievement. But if you ask the 2015 graduate of SUNY Poly’s Nurse Practitioner Graduate program, she’ll give you a quick and simple answer – her family.
Balancing life as a mother, wife, and full-time graduate student with a career takes a lot of juggling, dedication, and a lot of hard work. Fortunately, she’s no stranger to all three. And the hybrid of in-person and online classes for the SUNY Poly NP program allowed her to balance family life, work and academics perfectly.
“My passion for this profession is reinforced every day that I work.”
That work is as a Family Nurse Practitioner for primary Care Physicians in Williamsville, NY, but providing patients with proper care requires a large empirical knowledge base with leadership qualities such as compassion, advocacy, and emancipatory initiatives. As a nurse, Lowe knows she has to learn to adapt and respond to a variety of populations, needs, and environment – something she’s well-prepared for thanks to her time at SUNY Poly.
“SUNY Poly’s Family Nurse Practitioner Program helped me to build a very solid foundation of clinical skills, medical knowledge, and the theoretical grounding to begin my career,” Lowe says. “The faculty consistently went above and beyond for students providing the education, support, and encouragement necessary to succeed in this program.”
The dedication to her passion for others certainly did not go unnoticed, with Lowe’s excellence being rewarded with the SUNY Poly President’s Award and Dean’s Award, and the Outstanding Nurse Practitioner Student Award, to name just a few. She also received national recognition when she was named an “Emerging Leader” by the American Association of Colleges of Nursing’s Graduate Nursing Student Academy (GNSA).
Lowe always made her personal education a priority, a philosophy that was reinforced while teaching at the undergraduate level as a clinical instructor. Lowe says she hopes to eventually continue on with her doctorate, opening up even more collegiate teaching opportunities. She knows that as she continues to offer patients high-quality, benevolent care, she is continuing to gain valuable experience that will help her instill the enthusiasm for learning that she possesses into each of her students.
Nursing is a discipline whose focus is to heal, to care, to assist, and to promote health in the population. It’s a field where relationships are vital, morals and ethics are tested, and an understanding of aesthetics is crucial. And she can’t see herself doing anything else.
“It is incredible and overwhelming to think of the limitless opportunities available to make a positive difference in the field of nursing,” Lowe says. “I have been fortunate to attend the Family Nurse Practitioner program at SUNY Polytechnic Institute, which truly embodies a philosophy of nursing that promotes a holistic approach to practice and lifelong learning. Nurses are leaders, educators, researchers, and innovators compassionately devoting their life to the well-being of others. I am so proud to be a nurse practitioner.”