April 30, 2015
Shantinique Beverly
Major: health sciences
Next up: SVSU Master of Science in Health Administration and Leadership Program
Career prospects: health administrator, nurse anesthetist
Fun fact: Beverly was a cheerleader from age 4 to 19, participating in everything from independent competitions to high school sports.
Helping others doesn’t cost Shantinique Beverly energy. It provides the energy.
The Detroit native learned this lesson about herself through her studies and learning-based community service while at Saginaw Valley State University, where she will graduate in May.
Beverly’s involvement on campus led her to work with the United Way of Saginaw County’s Healthy Kids Healthy Futures Partnership AmeriCorps program.
“It’s been a great experience,” said the 2010 graduate of M.L. Winans Academy of Performing Arts in Detroit. “I really enjoy helping other people.”
The health sciences major connected with the nonprofit organization’s program — aimed at improving the lives of Saginaw County youths — during a SVSU Career Services fair. There, she met Joshua Hales, director of the AmeriCorps program, who brought her aboard the program last summer as a member.
Beverly made an impression on Hales immediately.
“She’s been phenomenal for us,” Hales said. “She is very reliable and dedicated to the kids she is working with. It’s the members that have kids come back to our program, and the kids enjoyed her and looked forward to coming back to be around her. She’s been instrumental for us.”
Beverly has utilized her SVSU education to implement programs promoting better health in children who attend the AmeriCorps initiative at The Salvation Army in Saginaw.
“They say they like it better than their regular gym class,” Beverly said of the youths, aged 7 to 11.
Her work also includes helping the children with homework assignments.
“Knowing I’m making an impact feels good,” she said.
SVSU has opened the door to other opportunities for Beverly, too.
She was among eight students who participated in a faculty-led study abroad trip Ghana in January 2013. The trip, led by Joseph Ofori-Dankwa, SVSU’s Harvey Randall Wickes Chair in International Studies, and Mamie Thorns, special assistant to the president for Diversity Programs, included a visit to an abandoned castle where captors housed slaves centuries ago.
“It was such a humbling experience,” Beverly said. “You got to experience what you thought would be people at their worst, but they were so friendly and loving. They were so welcoming.”
The experience continues to have a strong influence on Beverly, who said she has considered one day moving to an African nation to help a community there.
“I feel like there is so much more in the world to see, where my degrees can be useful,” she said.
Beverly’s desire to help others has defined her SVSU experience. She began her undergraduate life as a nursing student. In the years since, she changed her major twice before settling on health sciences, but her interests never strayed from pursuing a degree that would allow her to help others lead happier, healthier lives.
Her next step is to finish SVSU’s Master of Science in Health Administration and Leadership Program. Then she would seek a job as an administrator in a medical facility.
Beverly’s ultimate career goal is to become a nurse anesthetist, which specializes in the administration of anesthesia. That long-term goal means more school is in her future.
She credits SVSU staff and faculty for helping her toward that path, including Roberto Garcia, compliance specialist with School and University Partnerships, and Meghan Baruth, assistant professor of health sciences.
“(Garcia) told me I have to push myself, and not to give up on my dreams,” Beverly said. “(Baruth) has always been there when I need to vent about a class, and she would motivate me to finish it.”
She is grateful for all the opportunities she experienced at SVSU.
“I couldn’t see myself going anywhere else,” she said.
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