As National Nurses Week is celebrated across the country, a Baltimore County hospital is investing in the future of healthcare.

Northwest Hospital's nurse residency program is doing more than filling positions. It's transforming high school students into professional caregivers through hands-on experience and mentorship.

Nurse residency program's success story

One of its biggest success stories is Emmanuella Godswill.

Godswill, now a resident nurse at Northwest Hospital, began her journey at Randallstown High School as part of the Allied Health Program.

The initiative allows students in middle and high school to explore careers in healthcare and graduate with a Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) credential.

"They just showed me a whole crazy side of nursing, and I loved it," Godswill said. "I was like, I'm going to go to college to be a nurse."

Tara Boynton, a student clinical coordinator at Northwest Hospital, says Godswill is the first graduate of the program to return in an advanced role.

"The students get CNA certificates upon graduation," Boynton said. "But Ella is the first student to come back in a higher capacity as far as health care students."

"Nursing is not easy"

Godswill is now supported by a strong team, including Alexia Plummer, the hospital's supervisor of clinical excellence, who helps new nurses transition from classroom to clinical care.

"I tell them from day one, nursing is not easy," Plummer said. "That first year is going to be your hardest year, because they're trying to figure out how to go from student to professional… when that patient yells 'nurse,' that's you."

Godswill says the hospital's residency program has been crucial to her development.

"They have your back," Godswill said. "Regardless of what you're going through, there is always somebody to listen."

At Northwest Hospital, compassion and care don't end at the bedside. They start with programs like these, preparing young people, not just for a job, but for a calling.

"Happy Nurses Week," Plummer added, celebrating a profession built on courage, connection, and compassion.