Demadelye Navarro Named Undergraduate Student Speaker and Receives Outstanding Student Leadership Award
Demadelye Navarro is graduating with her Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree with a minor in Psychology. She will serve as the 2024 Student Speaker at the Undergraduate Commencement Ceremony and will receive the Outstanding Student Leadership Award at the 2024 Honors Convocation Ceremony. This award is presented to a graduating senior who has demonstrated excellent leadership skills and provided service to the GMercyU community. The individual selected to receive this award has served in both elected and non-elected positions across a variety of co-curricular activities.
In the classroom, Demadelye is an excellent student, placing on the Dean’s List in 2019, 2022, 2023, and 2024. Across campus, Demadelye is a student leader, serving as a member, Vice President and, most recently, President of Black Student Union. She also served as Treasurer of Student Government Association from 2022 to 2024 and Treasurer of Student Activities Committee from 2022 to 2024. In addition to her on-campus involvement, Demadelye engaged in several service opportunities including Alternative Spring Break in Baltimore, Maryland in 2023, organized a period poverty donation drive and a personal hygiene drive for individuals experiencing homelessness in Norristown, donated more than 200 products to Colonial Area Anti-Racism & Social Equity Alliance (CAARSEA), and the packed and distributed care packages for Broad Street Ministries. In summer 2024, Demadelye traveled with classmates to Jamaica’s Mustard Seed Communities to provide medical services for those with physical and mental disabilities.
Within the Nursing program, Demadelye worked on a collaborative research project for Mustard Seed Communities titled “Self-Care for Caregivers.” The research focused on teaching caregivers various self-care measures to help reduce stress levels and incidents of burnout. She also completed another research project titled “Breaking Barriers: The Impact of Language on Healthcare,” focused on how language barriers influence patient care in the community health setting and identified ways to address the gap.
Demadelye gained nursing experience at several clinical sites including St. Mary’s; Holy Redeemer; Jefferson Lansdale; and Montgomery County Emergency Services (MCES). She also completed a nursing externship at VNA Family Health Center. She was primarily responsible for administering vaccines, leading outreach efforts to schedule annual well-visits, educating patients on healthy lifestyle choices and medications, and advocating for patients during their hospital stay.
After graduating, Demadelye plans to rest and prepare for the NCLEX. Once she is a registered nurse, she plans to provide quality patient care and to continue efforts to make healthcare more accessible to patients with limited English proficiency in the community and inpatient settings. Her long-term goal is to return to Puerto Rico to open her own community health center.