Lehman College Nursing Major Wins Prestigious
International Frederick Douglass Fellowship
BY LEHMAN COLLEGE
In 1845, Frederick Douglass
spent two years touring Ireland
and the United Kingdom
to avoid being recaptured into
slavery in the United States.
While there he met Irish abolitionists
whose writings had
profoundly infl uenced him as
a youth.
This year, Katherine Sánchez,
a sophomore nursing major
at Lehman College, will follow
in his footsteps as a winner
of the 2021 Frederick Douglass
Global Fellowship. A highly
competitive award offered by
the Council on International
Educational Exchange (CIEE),
it honors the global legacy of
the abolitionist, writer, and
statesman. Fellows attend
a four-week summer study
abroad program to study leadership,
intercultural communication,
and strategies to affect
social change.
Sánchez was one of just 14
students selected for the fellowship
from more than 500
applicants nationwide, and
is the only student from New
York City. (Watch Sánchez and
other fellows discuss the meaning
of the award here.)
Fellows were recognized
Wednesday, St. Patrick’s Day,
at an online event that included
Vice President Kamala
Harris, Ireland’s Prime Minister
Micheál Martin, CIEE
representatives, and Nettie
Washington Douglass, the
great-great-granddaughter of
Frederick Douglass.
“The welcome and respect
with which Frederick was
greeted across his tour of Ireland
affected him profoundly,”
Douglass said. “I can think
of no better place for future
American leaders to gain a
global perspective and prepare
to be agents of change.”
The program’s selection
process emphasizes qualities
refl ecting Douglass’s own
character, including academic
achievement, commitment to
social justice, and cross-cultural
understanding. To that
end, Sánchez is more than
qualifi ed.
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Patients
A returning full-time student
in Lehman’s Adult Degree
Program, Sánchez, 24, also
works full-time in a New York
City public hospital, where
she has come to recognize the
need for equitable health care.
One way to achieve it, she said,
is to increase health care providers’
cultural competency
and awareness of unconscious
bias.
“I’ve seen my share of social
inequality,” she said. “One
of the current problems in the
healthcare system is that minorities
are less likely to receive
the same care as other
populations. I’ve been advocating
for my patients for years to
have better access to healthcare.”
Sánchez’s experience working
with underserved populations
motivated her to pursue
a nursing career and work toward
becoming a leader in the
fi eld.
“My most important goal
for the future as a nurse is not
only to be culturally aware but
also to bridge the divide between
providers and patients
and really personalize care,”
she said. “I’d like to give my patients
a voice and help them to
be heard.”
Sánchez said she applied for
the Frederick Douglass Fellowship
because of the opportunities
it would provide to expand
her worldview and nurture her
personal advancement.
Her advice for other Lehman
students, she said, is to remember
that “anything is possible,
especially for a returning
adult student.”
“For somebody who’s been
out of school for so long, I think
it’s a huge accomplishment
to jump back into the fl ow of
things, especially while balancing
a job and your social
life, home life, and work life,”
Sánchez said.
The motivation to do that,
she added, has to come from
within. “You have to want
it. You have to reach for the
stars,” she said.
Getty Images
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