{"id":218507,"date":"2025-07-10T14:05:29","date_gmt":"2025-07-11T00:05:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=218507"},"modified":"2025-07-18T09:09:05","modified_gmt":"2025-07-18T19:09:05","slug":"nursing-grad-empowered-by-mentorship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2025\/07\/10\/nursing-grad-empowered-by-mentorship\/","title":{"rendered":"Nursing graduate inspired by empathy, empowered by mentorship"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading time: <\/span> 2<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>
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Emma Tilitile (right) at her nursing pinning ceremony with students she tutored, Abby Avelar and Denise Duque.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Growing up in Waiʻanae<\/span> surrounded by nurses in her family, Emma Tilitile was inspired by their deep compassion for patients and community, a spirit she carried with her through nursing school at the University of Hawaiʻi<\/span> at M\u0101noa. In spring 2025, she earned her BS<\/abbr> in nursing from the School of Nursing and Dental Hygiene<\/a> (SONDH<\/abbr>), while also becoming a dedicated mentor to fellow students.<\/p>\n

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Tilitile with nursing classmates: Hailey Galam-Keller, Jill Teneza, CJ Kato and Aimirose-Ann Battad.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A proud graduate of Waiʻanae<\/span> High School, Tilitile got a head start on college through Early College programs<\/a> at Leeward Community College<\/a> and 东精影业<\/abbr> West Oʻahu<\/span>. Combined with her coursework at 东精影业<\/abbr> M\u0101noa, those credits helped her earn an Associate in Arts degree in fall 2024 through the university\u2019s reverse transfer program<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Still, the path to becoming a nurse wasn\u2019t without moments of doubt. “Once I entered nursing school, and things got tough, I questioned whether I had made the right choice,” she said.<\/p>\n

In her final semester, while caring for a patient recovering from open-heart surgery in the Queen\u2019s Medical Center\u2019s cardiovascular ICU<\/abbr>, she found clarity. “They thanked me and told me I\u2019d be a great nurse,” she said. “Until then, I knew I wanted to be a nurse, but I wasn\u2019t always sure I\u2019d be a good one. Hearing that reaffirmed that this is my path.”<\/p>\n

From mentee to mentor<\/h2>\n

Inspired by the guidance she received, Tilitile gave back as a mentor through 东精影业<\/abbr> M\u0101noa\u2019s Hawaiʻi<\/span> Undergraduate Initiative, a partnership between the Academic Resource Center and the Student Nurses Association that supports students who, like her, were learning how to navigate the challenges of nursing school.<\/p>\n

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Nursing Professor William “Bill” Siegman congratulates Tilitile at the pinning ceremony.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

“My first semester was tough. We had to shift from a ‘normal’ way of thinking to a nurse\u2019s way of thinking,” Tilitile said. “What\u2019s considered common sense in nursing doesn\u2019t feel like common sense at first. You have to retrain your brain. As a mentor, I tried to help students make that shift more smoothly. Practice helps, but having someone guide you makes a big difference.”<\/p>\n

One moment she\u2019ll never forget came at her pinning ceremony, when a student she had tutored virtually, showed up in person to thank her. “That one session helped her pass her exam,” Tilitile said. “It reassured me that maybe my actions do make a difference.”<\/p>\n

Mentoring also helped her grow. “I found joy in teaching and sharing what I\u2019d learned,” she said. “It\u2019s shaped my goals, and I hope to keep mentoring and maybe teach nursing students someday.”<\/p>\n

She added, “Mentoring deepened my empathy. Patients are often vulnerable and unsure, relying on us for care and comfort. That\u2019s something I carry with me.”<\/p>\n

She is now preparing to take the NCLEX<\/abbr> (National Council Licensure Examination) test which must be passed to become a licensed Registered Nurse. Tilitile plans to pursue a career in critical care nursing with a focus on cardiovascular health and eventually wants to return to school to become a family nurse practitioner. <\/p>\n

— by Arlene Abiang<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

东精影业<\/abbr> M\u0101noa nursing graduate Emma Tilitile of Waiʻanae<\/span> reflects on how mentorship and empathy shaped her path to becoming a nurse.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[90,1047,65,1051,189,167,71,9,59],"class_list":["post-218507","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-people","tag-alumni","tag-early-college","tag-leeward-community-college","tag-mentorship","tag-nursing","tag-school-of-nursing-and-dental-hygiene","tag-uh-community-colleges","tag-uh-manoa","tag-uh-west-oahu","entry","has-media"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218507","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=218507"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218507\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":218866,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218507\/revisions\/218866"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=218507"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=218507"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=218507"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}