UL Lafayette Nursing Students Get Final Gift from Professor

A nursing professor's parting gift is helping students chase their dreams without choosing between paying bills and clinical training.

Maria Moya and Alyssa Theriot are the first Dolores Bess Scholars at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. They'll receive financial support during their final four semesters, exactly when nursing school demands make holding a part-time job nearly impossible.

The scholarship honors Dolores Bess, who taught nursing at UL Lafayette for 25 years before passing away in 2024 at age 91. Her estate's final gift dramatically expanded an endowment she and her husband William created in 2012, which had already helped 116 students.

Dr. Lisa Broussard, dean of the College of Nursing & Health Sciences, said Bess wanted to leave a legacy with maximum impact. Rather than spreading the expanded endowment thin, the college chose to provide deeper support to fewer students during their most challenging period.

Both Moya and Theriot found their calling through deeply personal experiences. Theriot watched a hospice nurse care for her grandmother during her final days with ALS, moved by the nurse's willingness to simply be present and hold her hand.

Moya's inspiration came from watching nurses communicate with her grandmother in assisted living despite a language barrier. As a bilingual student, she recognized her unique ability to offer comfort to patients who might feel scared and alone.

Sunny's Take

The timing of this support matters as much as the amount. Junior and senior nursing students face grueling clinical rotations that demand their full attention and energy. For Moya and Theriot, the scholarship removes the impossible choice between education and financial survival.

"The scholarship has lessened the burden for me and my family, and is giving me the freedom to study hard, do well, and devote all my time to helping patients," Moya said. Theriot called it both financial help and reassurance that she belongs in nursing.

These students will carry forward the compassion they witnessed in their grandmothers' caregivers, now able to focus fully on becoming the nurses who will hold someone else's hand during life's hardest moments.