ESPN2 to Feature UA Nursing Student as Wendy’s High School Heisman Hall of Fame Member

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – And you thought The University of Alabama had never been home to a Heisman winner.

Megan May, a senior UA nursing student from Roanoke, will soon be flown to New York City where she will attend the 2005 Wendy’s High School Heisman presentation, as she has for each of the previous four years. In 2001 as a senior at Handley High School, May was chosen the female national winner of the annual award recognizing students who excel in academics, athletics and community involvement.

Just as the collegiate Heisman is known for being the most prestigious award in college football, the Wendy’s High School Heisman award also is known for being the most prestigious award at the high school level. May, along with that year’s male winner, was selected from more than 13,000 nominees. Each year, for the remainder of their lives, the winners are invited back to attend the annual presentation.

The UA Capstone College of Nursing student will be profiled in a television segment scheduled to air on ESPN2 Sunday, Dec. 11 at 6:30 p.m. EST. Each year, the male and female winners from five and 10 years prior are highlighted.

Dr. Sara Barger, dean of UA’s Capstone College of Nursing, said seeing students like Megan makes her feel good about the future of her profession. “She has the intellectual capacity along with the human caring to make a really outstanding nurse,” Barger said. “Megan is going to be exactly the kind of nurse who each of us will want to care for us one day. I will be proud to call her an ‘Alabama nurse.’”

Monika Gragg, instructor in UA’s College of Nursing, described May as a serious student who was a quick learner, not only in mastering text material but in grasping new “psychomotor skills” such as obtaining an accurate blood pressure or giving injections.

The combination helped make her a natural for other students to turn to when they needed peer assistance. “All the students knew who to ask when they had a question,” Gragg said. “There’s only certain people other students go to when they have a question, and she was one of those people.”

May, scheduled to graduate in December 2006, has excelled academically at UA and has been awarded membership in some of the University’s most prestigious honor societies, including Omicron Delta Kappa, Mortar Board, and Anderson Society. During her clinical rotations, May juggles working in a hospital with attending class.

“In the hospital, Megan would take care of patients anywhere from eight to ten hours a day (two days per week), doing everything that a nurse would do – under supervision,” Gragg said. “Her patients loved her.”

May, who plans to later attend nurse anesthetist school, said the annual opportunity to meet and learn about the other Heisman honorees has inspired her to continue working hard. “The biggest thing it has done for me is the motivation it provided,” May said. “When I go back and see the past winners, they are just outstanding. It motivates you to keep trying.”

The initial honor came with a flood of attention. Her town’s mayor proclaimed a “Megan May Day” in her honor. “All my friends made fun of me for that,” she said. She was grand marshal of the town’s Christmas parade, met then-Gov. Don Siegelman and granted media interview requests for several state, regional and national news outlets, including being recognized in Sports Illustrated. Handley High School was awarded $3,500 in honor of May, and the school requested May’s input on how the money should best be spent.

In addition to posting an impressive ACT score, in high school May was president of the Key Club and the National Honor Society and was captain of both her basketball and softball teams, winning area honors for her athletic prowess. May, who was also selected from 91,000 applicants as one of the nation’s 250 Coca-Cola Scholars in 2002, enjoys playing intramural sports at UA and coaching a basketball team of 10-year-olds in her free time. The UA senior cited the ample opportunities to interact with patients as guiding her nursing career choice and said she was happy with her decision to attend The University of Alabama.

“I know I made the right choice,” May said. “I love everything about it. I feel at home here. The teachers here are great, and I have great friends here. I couldn’t imagine myself anywhere else.”

And now The University of Alabama, which has fielded some of the greatest teams and players in college football history – a rich tradition frequently juxtaposed with its never having landed a Heisman Trophy – no longer has to imagine what it might be like to have a Heisman in its midst.

For more information, see http://www.wendysheisman.com/.