From One Nurse to Another: Kleinsasser Supports Scholarship at SDSU
When asked what advice she might share with nursing students as they embark upon their careers, lifelong nurse Ardelle Kleinsasser answers, “Focus on the patient, do more than is expected of you, be kind, and keep learning.” Thanks to Ardelle’s generosity in establishing a scholarship at South Dakota State University, future Jackrabbit nurses will have the chance to fulfill her heartfelt advice.
Ardelle has always known she wanted to be a nurse. Growing up in rural Freeman, South Dakota, her parents were ardent advocates for education and encouraged Ardelle to pursue nursing. During her senior year of high school, she worked as a nursing assistant. Through that first foray into the field, Ardelle could feel that she was on the right path.
Ardelle graduated from Augustana University in 1974 and earned her master’s in nursing from SDSU in 1987. She embarked on a lifelong career, beginning with an RN position in Minneapolis and as a nurse in Sioux Falls, followed by a few years serving as a nursing instructor at Augustana. It was when Ardelle arrived at the VA Hospital in Sioux Falls that she knew she’d found the patient care position she’d always wanted, working there for 29 years until her retirement.
Drawing from her personal experience with rural healthcare workforce shortages, she established a nursing scholarship for master’s level nurses committed to working in rural areas.
Hanna Eide is a prime example of the difference that Ardelle and scholarship donors like her can make. With dreams of becoming a family nurse practitioner, Hanna currently works as a labor and delivery nurse in Watertown, South Dakota. Because of Ardelle’s generosity, Hanna has been able to overcome ongoing obstacles she faced in returning to school.
"At the time I received this scholarship, I was working as a full-time nurse, being a mom to my little guy, and trucking through my graduate program," says Hanna. "The timing of the scholarship and the difference it made was exactly what I needed at that time, and I will always be grateful for that."
With a shared interest in serving rural communities, one generation of Jackrabbits has fueled the way for the next, and Ardelle was moved to hear from Hanna about the impact she’s made.
“I’m happy that this scholarship was able to ease some of the financial burden for her and her family,” says Ardelle. "It probably would have been easy for Hanna to quit, and I admire her for hanging in there.”
The advice Ardelle shares for future nurses speaks not only to the difference she’s made for students like Hanna, but to the difference those students will someday make as nurses. Ardelle has been kind and done more than what was expected of her, enabling Jackrabbits to focus on their patients and forever keep learning.
