Oct. 14, 2015
Oct. 14, 2015
Goalkeeper Shannon Morrish, from Bradenton, Fla., enters her senior year at Vanderbilt with more on her plate than just soccer. In addition to finishing up her undergraduate degree, she starts her first year in the Vanderbilt University School of Nursing. She’ll receive her R.N. (registered nurse license) at the end of the first year and will leave in 2017 as a nurse practitioner. She is specializing in adult/gerontology acute care, a program Vanderbilt ranks fifth in the country in according to U.S. News and World Report.
COMMODORE NATION: Have you always wanted to go into nursing?
Shannon Morrish: Yeah, since I was a little, I’ve always… I mean my dad is a physician, he is an ENT (ear, nose and throat specialist). So he kind of always wanted me to go into the medical field. He always pushed me to go to nursing school. I didn’t really know exactly where I wanted to go but when I came to Vanderbilt they had this great program. It just ended up working out.
CN: Why do you want to be a nurse? Because of your dad’s influence?
MORRISH: I mean I’ve watched him do surgeries since I was really little. I would always shadow him at the hospital. As soon as I started at Vanderbilt, I started volunteering at (Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt). That was a reassuring thing for me to know that I wanted to go into the nursing field. I worked in the emergency room and in the oncology clinic.
CN: What are you most looking forward to about the program?
MORRISH: The clinicals. I don’t know exactly what field I want to go into. I have an idea. I think just learning more about yourself and knowing where you want to go with your career. Now I’m not really studying to study, I’m actually doing something that I want to do.
CN: How much are you looking forward to this upcoming semester? (Starting Aug. 17, she’ll have classes in the nursing school every day from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., four days a week in addition to clinicals on Wednesdays and Thursdays.)
MORRISH: I’m very excited. I think it is also nerve-racking because there is a lot of pressure on both ends – athletically and academically. I think I can handle it  hopefully.
CN: Your coaching staff and teammates have been really understanding and accepting of your juggling of both soccer and nursing?
MORRISH: Yeah, they’ve been very accepting. (First-year head coach Darren Ambrose) has done everything he can to help me. I was kind of surprised, honestly, because you always worry about new coaches coming in and not knowing how they will react. He understands the balance. He pushes us to do well in both (soccer and academics).
CN: So you’re a big traveler, too. You spent nearly three weeks in Germany, Greece and Italy this summer and you’ve also ziplined in four countries (U.S., Costa Rica, Haiti and Jamaica). How many countries have you visited?
MORRISH: I haven’t kept count. But I’ve been all through Europe. I have been to South America, Central America, almost all 50 states. I haven’t been to Hawaii. Maybe one day.
CN: Is there an area or country you really want to visit?
MORRISH: I really want to go to Africa and China I think would be really cool. But there is just not enough time yet (laughs). Maybe one day.
CN: Is a lot of this just traveling with family?
MORRISH: Yeah. I went to Brazil twice for soccer. Once with Vandy (in 2013) and once in high school with my club team. My dad loves to travel and he has been everywhere. So when I was little we would go on family trips all throughout Europe. This year was kind of our big last trip as a family. Both my brother and I are going to grad schools where they are going straight through so we don’t really have a summer.
CN: So you went to Germany, Italy and Greece this summer. How fun of a trip was that?
MORRISH: We were out there for two and a half weeks. It was so much fun. I think one of my favorite parts was Germany because we got to see the Berlin Wall and all the history there. It was really cool.
CN: You’re only 21 and you’ve been a lot of places around the world, how fortunate do you feel?
MORRISH: I feel very fortunate. It’s kind of a lifetime experience. Most people don’t get to travel and they don’t get to fly on airplanes. I learn about different cultures and the history. I think it definitely impacts my life, especially the Costa Rica trip (with Soles4Souls last December), and even seeing the poverty in Brazil (on soccer trips).
