Entreprenurial pair find a missing link to their education, fill the void with an online resource

When she began her educational
trek toward a hoped-for
career in nursing, Rebecca
Rhea found a minor obstacle in the
way: a dearth of interactive online
resources.
A Tempe Coventry resident
and 2014 graduate of Grand Canyon
University, Rhea linked up with
classmates Anna Bright and Tonya
Smith to solve the problem.
Their collaborative efforts led to
building a website that encompassed
what they considered pertinent and
helpful tools for nursing students—an
initiative that paid off beyond their
expectations.
“When the three of us were
relatively new in our program, our
class was asked to purchase four books,
and we had no idea what they were,”
Rhea said.
“Our success was dependent
on finding those books. It was a big
process,” she said. “When we were
finished we thought to ourselves,
‘There has got to be a website that
has all of this one place.’ At first we
searched for anything out there similar
to our idea, but once we realized there
was nothing, we found ourselves in this
position to start creating it. It was our
driving point.”
After dedicating the majority
of 2013 to building and refining
the components, their website,
iStudentNurse.com, was launched in
December.
The innovative site serves to
enhance the student experience
through the delivery of comprehensive
products and empowering information
designed to promote academic,
professional and personal success in
nursing school.
Content is created through
collaborations with various nursing
students, licensed RNs, clinical
liaisons, educators, interdisciplinary
consultants and alliances with
professional associations.
The project took first place
at the 2014 Annual Business Idea
Competition at Grand Canyon
University.
“The three of us mainly worked
on the project but a lot of other people
were kind enough to help, and there
was a lot of support from the online IT
community,” Rhea said.
“We could not have done it
without our mentor Lisa McAllister;
we were really lucky to have her on our
side. She is trained as an accountant
and she is a volunteer business coach.
Someone happened to introduce me
to her and she pointed me in the right
direction.”
Although website-building has
become more readily available, the task
is not for everyone.
“The process has involved a lot
of educating myself and learning how
to figure things out, one by one,”
Rhea said. “In order to succeed I had
to remain persistent and willing to
work with it until I could figure it out.
It’s comparable to building a house
because the navigation is such a crucial
part of it all.
“Our biggest challenge was
creating a user-friendly site with the
mass amount of content we had.”
Despite the effort involved, the
team has conquered each challenge
with confidence.
A second portion of the website,
the shop, was successfully launched
this summer.
Currently hosting 1,200-plus
products, the site eventually will
include a section for male students and
for textbooks.
iStudentNurse.com is built on the
foundation of helping others, Rhea
noted.
“You never know what’s going
to happen until you start,” she said.
“Despite the challenges, when we
learned that we’ve helped someone and
made it a little easier for them than
it was for us, it’s the most satisfying
thing.
“That’s what it’s all about.”

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— Wrangler News staff

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