TUCSON, Ariz (KGUN) — The University of Arizona College of Nursing congratulated over 100 future nurses at their commencement ceremony earlier this week.
Lorre Laws, an assistant clinical professor at the College of Nursing, was thrilled to watch her students take the next steps into their careers, but one graduate, in particular, held a special place in her heart.
“I hooded my daughter at graduation!” Laws gushed. "It was such a special moment not only to hood my own daughter but to just celebrate all of the students that I have had the privilege of educating over the last 10 years."
Before receiving her Ph.D. in Nursing, Laws too received her Masters of Science and Nursing from the University of Arizona just like her daughter, Katie DiBene.
“I am getting all choked up! To have our paths intersect, our healer's heart that we share, showing up and in service to others in their greatest time of need, I would have never asked that of her, but it is clearly her calling,"
Laws says she had to fight back the "mom tears" as she watched her daughter receive the Julia Hubley Award for Clinical Excellence.
DiBene, much like her mother, has taken her passion for helping others and turned it into a career.
“I knew once she could do it, I could do it," DiBene says about her mom.
It was during her time spent as a teacher's assistant in Namibia, Africa, that DiBene decided her passion for healing others was enough to go back to school to earn her Master's of Science in Nursing.
“One time we were at a village and there was a boy that fell into a fire and it was a four hour walk to the hospital and I wished there was something I could do for this boy but I wasn’t trained. I didn’t have the skills or the knowledge and so after that happened, I was really interested in going into nursing and helping vulnerable populations," said DiBene.
From pressing, personal challenges and pursuing a nursing degree midst of a global pandemic, the journey through nursing school was far from conventional for the recent grad. She says reminding herself why she started, is what keeps her going.
“I have a real passion, I really care for people and I want to make a difference. I actually did my preceptorship in hospice and it was kind of this unexpected joy that I found in this area of nursing. I actually just accepted a job this morning here in Tucson for home hospice. I can't wait to continue to help people at the end of life," DiBene said.
The mother-daughter-duo say their "healer's hearts" are what drives them to help others.
DiBene is eager to begin her career in the medical field alongside her mother.
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Breanna Isbell is a reporter for KGUN 9. She joined the KGUN 9 team in July of 2022 after receiving her bachelor’s degree in sports journalism from Arizona State University in May. Share your story ideas with Breanna by emailing breanna.isbell@kgun9.com or by connecting on Facebook, or Twitter.
