'The world needs you now more than ever'
Graduating students in the Marcella Niehoff School of Nursing listen to speakers during the spring Commencement ceremony, held May 7 at Gentile Arena.
By Ashley Rowland
May 2025
The Marcella Niehoff School of Nursing held its spring Commencement ceremony on May 7 at Gentile Arena, with more than 220 students walking across the stage to receive diplomas.
Dean Lorna Finnegan told the graduates that their Loyola Nursing education, with its Jesuit emphasis on care of the whole person, has prepared them to advance health equity and provide knowledgeable, compassionate care.
“You already have the power to make a meaningful impact, and that power has never been more important,” she said.
“As you take the next step in your nursing journey, I challenge you to embrace your power—to heal, to lead, to innovate, and to inspire. The world needs you now more than ever.”
Student speaker Kate Heneghan, BSN ‘25, spoke about resilience and determination, sharing how the grief of losing both parents early in her time at Loyola gave her a sense of purpose.
“In every patient I care for, I see my parents. In the newborns I’ve helped deliver, I see hope. In the hands I’ve held during difficult moments, I feel their love.
“Nursing became more than a career. It’s become a way to honor their memory and carry their light forward,” she said.
Read more of her inspiring speech here.
Moments of growth
Keynote speaker Lauren R. Sorce, BSN ’88 and MSN ‘96, a pediatric critical care leader, compared each graduate’s life to a tapestry that unfolds and changes over time.
“Each day leading up to today, something big, small or something you didn’t even recognize happened and led you one step closer to today,” she said. “Each one of these moments of growth—experiences, family and friends, your values, people you have met, and the choices, decisions, and paths you took and didn’t take—added threads to your tapestry.”
Sorce is the senior scientist in the Division of Pediatric Critical Care Medicine at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago. She was the 2024 president of the Society of Critical Care Medicine, 18,000-member multiprofessional nonprofit with a mission to secure high-quality care to critically ill and injured patients.
Sorce said each graduate will impact the trajectory of their patients’ lives, even in seemingly small interactions.
“You will go to work as a nurse and give a tiny little morsel of yourself to each patient and family you serve,” she said. “Each baby born, each child healed, each critically ill patient positioned for comfort, each elderly patient who shares a fond memory, each hospice patient treated for their pain—all of them will get something of you.”