Libby Tennant '27 | Cleats to Clinicals

When Libby found Emmanuel, she knew she’d be on the right track for both. She’d play soccer and focus on schooling, while thriving in Boston’s health care hub as an aspiring nurse.

“I knew my education would be enhanced by Emmanuel’s location and new nursing facilities, and I saw that the major was valued in the nursing world,” she said. “It checked all my boxes!”

Libby is on track to become the first health care professional in her family. Combining her interests in science, the human body and health care, she settled on a path where she could directly impact patients and patient care.

“Nurses transform fear into courage, uncertainty into trust – that’s what nursing is, and that’s what I love about it,” she said.

Now as a junior, Libby has already worked in clinicals across Boston, starting at Spaulding Rehab Center, then at Boston Medical Center, and most recently at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. The hands-on experience has been key for her learning, and she’s felt herself grow from it, learning from mistakes and becoming more confident and capable every single day.

Mentorship – both as a mentor and mentee – has been another difference maker in Libby’s experience. She said learning from Emmanuel’s nursing faculty, who are practicing nurses themselves, has been eye-opening and inspiring, particularly because of their dedication to supporting their students in and out of the classroom.

“They hear us, they value us – and they value our questions, goals and dreams – and they want to help us reach them,” Libby said. She shouted out Rebecca White, MSNE, BSN, as an amazing mentor, who works at Beth Israel as an ER nurse, the same route that Libby hopes to pursue when she graduates. “I want to follow her example and show the same work ethic and professionalism.”

In her first and sophomore years at Emmanuel, she was a part of the Nursing Peer Mentors Program, through which upperclassmen took Libby “under their wing,” and helped her form realistic expectations about the challenges of being a nurse, while reminding her it is achievable and rewarding.

Now as a peer mentor herself, she gets to return the favor, giving guidance and support to her peers, and helping inspire them to become the best they can be. And her drive to lead others by example isn’t exclusive to nursing, it shows out on the soccer field as well.

Just like working in the ER, she said, she has to gel with her teammates, overcome challenges in a fast-paced environment and “expect the unexpected.”

As a rising captain of the women’s soccer team, Libby said she was able to “find her voice” and benefitted from the opportunity to lead by example: listening to her teammates, finding common ground and showing each other respect. Since her first year at Emmanuel, she has loved being a part of the team culture – and being a part of back-to-back championships in 2024 and 2025.

“I’ve made some of my best friends on the team. It’s been a challenging, but rewarding path we’ve taken, and our growth shows who we are as players and as people,” Libby said.