Before Abby Stanley was preparing for a career in pediatric critical care, before clinical shifts and research hours, she was a child learning how to find her footing in a life that had already asked her to be resilient.
“I want her to know that my life story to here wasn't a straight path,” Abby said. “I was born in China, and then I was adopted and brought over here by a single mom with a blue-collar job, so I started off a little disadvantaged from the first.”
A Class of 2026 graduate, Abby received the Ann Lantzy Glazener Term Scholarship during a demanding stretch of her nursing education. The gift eased financial pressure and helped make her path ahead feel possible.
“The fact that I received this gift, it leveled out the playing field for me,” Abby said. “I'm on par with my peers, and it means a lot as someone who's had the odds stacked against them from a young age to have made it this far and to be graduating.”
Room to Focus
The scholarship came as Abby balanced coursework, clinical preparation and a three-semester research project.
“I remember when I received it. I was shocked because I didn't think I'd be the one to receive a scholarship like this,” Abby explained. “My finances have always been kind of tight with my family situation, so it meant a lot to alleviate that pressure.”
The support gave her more time for research instead of additional work shifts. Abby and her peers presented their findings at a spring symposium and are now working toward publication, an experience that added depth, discipline and purpose to her future.
Prepared to Care
Clinical rotations throughout Pittsburgh, gave Abby the opportunity to care for patients across different neighborhoods and stages of life, from newborns to those receiving end-of-life care. Those experiences helped her see nursing as a way to meet people with compassion during some of their hardest moments.
One patient experience remains especially vivid for Abby. She recalled being with the wife and family of a man she was caring for a man who was facing a serious, uncertain medical outlook as they came to understand that he was not going to recover.
“It taught me what compassion is about, what nursing is really about,” she said. “I think I’ll always remember that family, always remember that patient. And I think I’ll always carry that with me into my career.”
After graduation, Abby will work in the pediatric Intensive Care Unit (ICU) at UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh. Her ICU immersion experience gave her the professional confidence to take a running start on a meaningful career caring for critically ill children and their families.
“I feel prepared to go into it,” Abby said. “I think the fact they saw Duquesne on my resume and that I could talk about my experience confidently is what made them feel confident in selecting me.”
Carrying Compassion Forward
For Abby, Glazener’s support is now part of the care she will offer others.
“When I received that support, I felt a lot of care and compassion,” she said. “And that, in turn, allows me to show a lot of compassion to the patients I work with.”
That is the ripple effect of giving to students: it helps prepare future professionals whose work is driven by compassion and empathy. As Abby begins her career, she hopes to carry Glazener’s gift forward one patient room at a time.
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