I Am An IU Nurse

Leading the Way

Larry Wilson and Mark Casanova become first men of color to graduate from IU SON, Bloomington

Senior nursing student Mark Casanova remembers the day four years ago when, as a freshman, he was walking past the School of Nursing (SON) offices in Sycamore Hall, looking at the framed pictures of prior SON graduating classes … “and not seeing one face that I could relate to. It was disheartening, at first, but mostly inspired me to become the first male Latino student to graduate from IU SON, Bloomington!”

Mark will achieve that goal this May, when he will be joined by senior nursing student Larry Wilson, who becomes the first African American male to graduate from our program. 

Larry hails from Indianapolis. Mark is from "The Region" (and the small town of Whiting, near Chicago). Upon first landing in Bloomington, Larry remembers thinking, “I can’t believe I got here!  The campus itself was like a small town, quite different from anywhere else I’d been.”  “The campus was gorgeous, spacious, and so green!,” says Mark. “I loved – and still do – the tree sweaters on Kirkwood: I would totally do that in my own backyard.”

A Hudson and Holland scholarship through IU helped Mark pay his expenses. Scholarships also helped Larry pay for his schooling. In the early days, Larry also turned his personal car into a one-man version of Uber, charging people $5 to take them anywhere in the city.

Both men came to IU driven by their desire to study nursing as a way to help others, a personal goal that was driven – in part – by their desire to make the nursing profession more diverse. “People of all backgrounds need access to healthcare,” says Mark. “Increased diversity of nurses provides greater comfort and familiarity for the patient. Culturally-guided interactions can also promote greater compliance when receiving care by connecting nurses with patients on a far more personal level.”
Larry Wilson
Photo credit: Chi Huang Lee 李

We need people from all walks of life to give better care. We can only do what our patients trust us to do, and that trust grows when we paint a more colorful, more diverse picture for people to see.

Larry Wilson

“As a nurse,” says Larry, “I don’t want to walk into a hospital and be the only black person on staff.  As a patient, I wouldn’t want to experience that either. We need people from all walks of life to give better care. We can only do what our patients trust us to do, and that trust grows when we paint a more colorful, more diverse picture for people to see.”

As they learned more about their chosen profession (and “the endless paths one can take in nursing,” says Larry), their career goals gained a clearer focus with Mark, in particular, learning – for the first time – about the out-patient facilities and programs created by community nurses.  Larry’s coursework reinforced for him the importance of effective communication (“knowing how to work with people to get things done”) as the key to patient care.

And while they continued to succeed in their coursework and clinicals, there were times – as men of color – that, as Mark says, “I did feel a bit out of place within my classes, surrounded by my peers.”  “I realized early on,” adds Larry, “that I needed to change the way I was navigating my environment. I began to listen to other black students who were feeling the stress of not fitting in at IU and who wanted to go back home. But that just made me more determined to get to this point – where, five months from now, I will be the first black male to graduate from the nursing program at this university.”

Increased diversity of nurses provides greater comfort and familiarity for the patient. Culturally-guided interactions can also promote greater compliance when receiving care by connecting nurses with patients on a far more personal level.

Mark Casanova
Mark Casanova
Photo credit: Chi Huang Lee 李
As they prepare for Graduation Day, Mark believes his personal experiences – and his personal accomplishment upon graduating from the program – will serve as an inspiration to others. “I hope my smile will invite other students of color to affirm their passion to help others,” he says, starting with his little sister “who I hope to entice to attend IU!” 

Larry, however, is more guarded. “Honestly, I’m not sure that it will make it that much easier,” he says. “Mark and I are lighting the way and showing that it can be done. But making it easier goes slightly deeper than what Mark and I alone can do. Making it easier requires that we all acknowledge that there is a lack of diversity within programs and within the university. The admissions process and the nursing program itself are difficult for all students, but I think students of color are not encouraged or driven to reach their potential. I think there are instances when we are told the opposite, which must be addressed in order to give everyone a meaningful experience here at IU. And that requires people to drive to change it.”

As for future plans, Mark hopes to one day be working in behavioral health “somewhere in Chicago.  Hopefully, I can have my own community-based program created and geared towards assisting people in my own neighborhood,” he says. 

And as for Larry? “Well, in ten years,” he smiles, “I’d like to be in a beautiful home running off renewable energy with kids, two dogs and a few Teslas parked in the garage. BUT … in five years, I’d settle for a travel nursing position, while also serving as a mentor for students like me who are fighting against the odds, trying to paint themselves into a more colorful future.”
I Am an IU Nurse is a regular feature of The Nursing News, in which we feature the accomplishments and personal stories of IU SON Bloomington’s student nurses and alumni.