A student at the College of Nursing and Health Science’s Marshfield site was recently chosen as the grand-prize winner of the National Student Nursing Association/Nursing Spectrum essay contest.

Senior Jennifer Steif, who has been a member of the NSNA for a year, was the recipient of a $500 gift certificate and a plaque.

The award also includes the opportunity to visit and be recognized at the NSNA conference in Texas, and the 1,000-word essay will be published in three nursing magazines, including Nursing Spectrum.

The essay, which was open to NSNA members nationwide, was judged by the editorial staff of Nursing Spectrum.

Though she couldn’t make it to the conference, Steif gladly accepted the certificate and the chance to be published.

“I’m pretty excited because I didn’t really expect it,” she said. “It’s a big award.”

All entries were judged anonymously, but NSNA communications director Larisa Mendez-Downes said the contest traditionally draws large numbers of essays.

“Nursing sponsors are very generous sponsors,” Mendez-Downes said, “so it has attracted I think a good amount of essays in the past. It’s a really great accomplishment.

“It’s really nice when our group of editors and journalists and whoever makes up that editorial staff decides that your essay was great. It’s great for a nursing student who may have a little bit of an inclination to write or want to incorporate that into their career.”

Steif’s essay was based on a mission trip to the Dominican Republic in January, and in character, the importance of student involvement in the community.

“I saw that there was an essay on global nursing, so that’s kind of what motivated me to write,” Steif said. “(On the trip) I got to see first hand what happens if third world countries don’t have access to health care or clean water.

“Along with that mission trip, I talked about ways nursing students can be involved within the community, not just in third world countries, but doing stuff for their neighbors and volunteering at certain places.”

Despite the prestige of winning the award and the resume boost that comes with it, Steif may not need it.

Steif said she was offered a job at Aspirus Hospital in Wausau, and plans on accepting it.