How Scholars Network Helped Change One Arizona College of Nursing Student's Future Overnight
NEW YORK, Oct. 6, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- At 12 years old, Icencia Noël was in a hospital bed with a 104-degree fever, struggling to breathe and terrified because she didn't understand what was happening to her. She was eventually diagnosed with asthma. But that isn't what stayed with her.
"What I remember most from that hospital stay wasn't the diagnosis, it was my nurse, Debbie," Icencia shared. Debbie explained every procedure before it happened, answered every question patiently, and never made her feel like just another patient. "Even though I was sick, she made me feel safe, seen, and cared for."
Fourteen years later, Icencia is a nursing student at Arizona College of Nursing's Hartford campus, and thanks to a new partnership between Scholars Network and AZCN she already knows where her career will begin. After graduation, she'll join UNC Health Wayne in North Carolina, where the health system will provide $40,000 in education loan repayment assistance.
A pipeline built to close a national gap
In April 2026, Arizona College of Nursing (AZCN) and Scholars Network launched their partnership to address the nation's nursing workforce shortage by connecting graduates directly to employment opportunities and employer-sponsored loan repayment programs.
Through the collaboration, AZCN graduates gain access to a growing network of healthcare employers offering structured career pathways, including guaranteed employment opportunities and employer-sponsored student loan repayment. The initiative is designed to reduce early-career turnover, ease financial stressors for new nurses, and strengthen long-term workforce stability.
Scholars Network partners with health systems and academic institutions to build sustainable talent pipelines, enabling employers to engage and recruit nursing students earlier in their education and transition them more seamlessly into the workforce.
Initially, the partnership supports students across AZCN campuses in Cincinnati and Cleveland, Ohio; Falls Church, Virginia; and Hartford, Connecticut.
"The generational healthcare shortage facing the nation is exacerbated by unsustainable early-career turnover and student debt," said Dr. Sam Maron, Senior Vice President at Noodle, which leads the Scholars Network initiative supporting the effort. "We are proud to partner with Arizona College of Nursing to create a sustainable workforce pipeline that benefits both workers and patients."
"We are committed to creating educational opportunities for future nurses like Icencia, whose call to care reflects the purpose so many of our students bring to nursing," said Jason E. Anderson, Chief Executive Officer of Arizona College of Nursing. "Through partnerships like this, we are delivering value to our students beyond graduation and helping them launch successful careers while meeting communities' critical healthcare needs."
For rural health systems, the value is immediate. "This program will grow North Carolina's nursing workforce while reducing the high costs of turnover, contract labor, and onboarding," said Dr. Jessie Tucker, President & CEO of UNC Health Wayne. "By creating a reliable pipeline of well-prepared nurses, we're strengthening patient care and ensuring the long-term health of rural hospitals like ours."
What the pipeline delivers
Behind the workforce numbers are nurses like Icencia, who describe the job in terms that have little to do with staffing ratios.
"Nursing, to me, is much more than administering medications or performing clinical skills," she wrote. "It is about showing compassion when someone feels vulnerable, advocating for patients who may not have a voice, and reminding people that they are never facing their challenges alone." She knows there will be busy shifts and difficult days. "I never want to lose sight of the person behind the diagnosis."
Long term, Icencia plans to become an Advanced Practice Registered Nurse specializing in neonatal intensive care - work she approaches with clear eyes. "Caring for our smallest and most fragile patients is a responsibility I do not take lightly," she wrote. She also intends to advocate for equitable, culturally sensitive healthcare and help reduce disparities in the patients she serves.
UNC Health Wayne appealed to her for the same reason Tucker cites it as a beneficiary of the partnership: a commitment to community and to patients first. "I want to be part of a healthcare team that believes exceptional care begins with treating every patient with dignity and kindness," Icencia wrote.
Her measure of success is the one Debbie set for her, in a hospital room, more than a decade ago.
"I want to be the nurse a patient remembers years later, not because I had all the answers, but because I made them feel cared for when they needed it most."
About Arizona College of Nursing
Arizona College of Nursing's purpose is to provide people the opportunity to enhance their lives through education. Arizona College of Nursing offers a three-year Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) program accredited by the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education. The BSN program is offered at 24 campuses across 15 states and is designed to prepare students for a career as a Registered Nurse (RN). Arizona College of Nursing campuses are institutionally accredited by the Accrediting Bureau of Health Education Schools (ABHES), a U.S. Department of Education-recognized national accrediting agency.
For more information, please visit arizonacollege.edu or contact [email protected]
About Scholars Network
Leveraging proprietary technology and a national network of university partnerships, Scholars Network, operated by Noodle, partners with health systems, combining clinical and higher education expertise to solve some of healthcare's biggest challenges: recruitment, retention, and upskilling of talent. Scholars Network's dedicated team is there throughout, helping to support each student through their recruitment, enrollment, education, and employment. Learn more about how we can strengthen your workforce at scholars-network.com.
Media Contact:
Madeline Correll
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SOURCE Scholars Network
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