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MORE ABOUT NATALIE
When Natalie Chua ’25 enrolled in the first undergraduate nursing class at Hofstra Northwell School of Nursing and Physician Assistant Studies, she became a pioneer. Three years into her studies, she’s becoming a leader, too.
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Along with a challenging class schedule, Natalie is the founding president of the Student Nurses Association, mentors first-year nursing students, organizes charity events like the Polar Plunge, and is doing her clinical work in gerontology at Northwell Health Stern Family Center for Rehabilitation. Also, Natalie is already working in her field and making a positive difference. She is a patient care associate in the respiratory care unit for North Shore University Hospital.
“The School of Nursing encourages us and supports us and trains us to be leaders,” Natalie said. She credits the school’s innovative PEARLS learning model, in which students work in small groups and lead discussions about patient cases, as a key tool.
“In PEARLS, we’re teaching each other and learning from each other,” she said. “Everyone has a turn, and everyone takes the initiative. That’s going to help us be more comfortable in the hospital and treat our patients better because we will be able to speak up for them and advocate for them.”
That patient-first approach extends beyond the classroom.
“From the beginning, the nursing school emphasized it was really important for us to have hands-on learning. In our very first semester, we were able to shadow a nurse for one full day just to ensure that this is what we really wanted to do. It helped a lot of us solidify what we thought nursing would be and it helped us gain a perspective of what we were going to do in the future.”
However, not all of Natalie’s time at Hofstra was spent in scrubs.
“I am a member of the Hofstra Women's Club Lacrosse team, which is a really good stress reliever because you're able to connect with people that are outside your major and you can see what they are going through.”
“I am also in Hofstra Symphonic Orchestra and play the piccolo. I never thought I would get back into music after high school. I thought that going into college meant that I had to give things like that up. Hofstra showed me that if you're willing to make time for something, everyone will work to make it happen for you.”
She also managed to find time to train for and run in the 2023 New York City Marathon, learn to snowboard, try intramural volleyball, and play the ukulele for fun.
“When I first got to Hofstra, my main focus was my grades. I thought school only ̶ that’s all I'm going to do. But the more immersed I was in the community at Hofstra, the more I realized that there's so much more that the University offers. I’m not just learning how to be a nurse, but also how to have fun, and how to build a support system for life.”
» Natalie’s story isn’t unique. In fact, among Hofstra University’s 2021-2022 undergraduate recipients, 82% of alumni from the Hofstra Northwell School of Nursing and Physician Assistant Studies who responded to our graduation survey or other reliable sources (95% knowledge rate) reported that they were employed or had started or were planning to start graduate school within one year of graduation. Visit our outcomes page at hofstra.edu/outcomes for detailed information.