Jeremy Bang, 2025 Nursing Excellence Award
“I’ve always been a bit of a late bloomer. I’m a career changer who spent the first two decades of my career in the hospitality industry before finding nursing.
“I was drawn here because of the burden of depression, anxiety, and self-medication I saw in that industry. As I rose through the ranks, I saw how difficult it was for my colleagues to access support. I found myself doing informal counseling each time I would dig into the deeper issues behind seemingly mundane concerns like chronic lateness or interpersonal challenges.
“I was lucky to have contact with a couple who believed in me and introduced me to a nurse practitioner willing to let me shadow her for a day. From her generosity, I knew that’s what I wanted to do. I worked ~50 hours a week while working on prerequisites to get into Seattle University’s accelerated doctoral program.
“Over the course of this career transition, I’ve learned a lot about myself: my ambition, how to better handle adversity, and how to pick myself up when things got tough. My hope is that through my work I can give some of these same opportunities to others—whether through clear communication of a diagnosis, empathy and patience while someone figures something out for themselves, or mentoring a student who needs extra support to get where they’re going.
“Receiving the Nursing Excellence Award is a welcome sign that my efforts are seen, and it motivates me to keep working toward the grace, clarity, empathy, and consistency that my mentors modeled and this community values. Thank you for the opportunity to grow and learn with you all in this work.”