MEET THE BOARD

We are here to serve you.

Samantha Derfler

President
​president@utahstudentnurse.org

Samantha Derfler is a student currently enrolled in Provo College BSN program. She has served as an officer for her school’s NSNA chapter. She has loved the opportunity she has had to be a part of the NSNA and the service opportunities she has had. She wants to focus her time on the UtSNA board making sure the schools she will oversee have their chapters of the NSNA working and benefiting from this great organization. She wants to help assist these schools where ever she can. She looks forward in helping the UtSNA excel and is grateful for the opportunity to be able to serve. She looks forward to a great year and to many great experiences that she will have in helping the UtSNA board.

Megan Cox

Vice President
vicepresident@UTAHSTUDENTNURSE.ORG

Megan Cox is currently a nursing student at Snow College. She plans to pursue a career in women's health as a Nurse Practitioner, and is excited to use the opportunity of UtSNA to further that goal. She is currently working as a CNA at a rural hospital and loves it! She loves traveling and trying new foods with her husband, Quincy. She also loves to craft, read and learn new things. Enjoying the sunshine with her dog Lucy is her favorite way to pass the time. Megan has a deep passion for health care, and is excited to share it with others! She is ecstatic to serve the state of Utah in this capacity, and looks forward to a great year!

Wheeler Heck

Secretary
secretary@UTAHSTUDENTNURSE.ORG

Wheeler is a BSN student at the University of Utah. He has extensive experience with peoples living with intellectual disabilities. Wheeler served as the Head of Delegation for two years with the U of U Special Olympics Utah Team. His healthcare repertoire includes Physical Therapy and Occupational Therapy assisting work on the Navajo Indian Reservation. Wheeler plans to pursue a DNP in Psychiatric Mental Health Nursing. He and his husband live in Salt Lake and enjoy spending time traveling and walking their yellow lab, Beau.

 

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Jennifer Salazar

Treasurer
treasurer@UTAHSTUDENTNURSE.ORG

Chance, who claims ʻĀina Haina, Hawaii as home, is rounding his last year in SUU’s BSN program, graduating in December 2018. He has held Secretary, Vice President, and President for SUU’s SNA, and is in his second year as Treasurer for UtSNA. His goal for this year is to perfect the processes and duties of treasury to ensure a smooth transition for the next board member. Chance enjoys camping, snowboarding, water skiing, travel, and Survivor. He plans on spending his summer landing an ICU residency, and eventually would like to go back to school to receive a DNAP.

Scott Shumway

Convention Director
conventiondirector@UTAHSTUDENTNURSE.ORG

My name is Camille and I am a nursing student at BYU. I come from Arizona but grew up mostly in Minnesota as well as a few other states. It's been fun experiencing the differences in weather and culture. Getting to know knew places and people is one of my passions in life. I also love spending time outdoors and with my family and friends. Currently, I am the secretary on the BYU SNA board and before that I was the BLS coordinator. It has been so fun to work with other student nurses I look forward to continue to do that.

Clayton Gornichec

Communications Director
communicationsdirector@​UTAHSTUDENTNURSE.ORG

Erin Leué

Breakthrough to Nursing
btndirector@UTAHSTUDENTNURSE.ORG

Erin Leué is a nursing student attending Utah Valley University’s ASN program. She has worked as a CNA for many years in many settings, including home health, nursing homes, and hospitals. She currently serves as a member of the UVU SNA chapter as her semester representative. She loves music, painting, watching movies, and books. She loves being involved in any opportunities that nursing provides, and she is very excited to work as the Breakthrough to Nursing Director to help others do the same.

Jessica Daynes

Regional Director 1
region1director@UTAHSTUDENTNURSE.ORG

Jessica Daynes a 2nd semester nursing student from the Bay Area in California! She loves helping and serving people. She believes that leadership positions are simply opportunities to serve others and make a difference! Whenever she has the opportunity she loves playing volleyball, going to sporting events, and dancing. She also loves spending time with my family! As the second of five children she developed her love for service, music, and sports because of them. As the Region 1 Director for Utah SNA, she hope to communicate effectively with the SNA programs for schools in northern Utah. She plans to relay important information to members of SNA programs, as well as help them improve their SNA programs in any way she can. She is on the Utah SNA board to serve the members of SNA throughout Utah and especially in her region. She will do whatever is in her power to help their programs continue growing and improving.

Ashley Smith

Regional Director 2
region2director@UTAHSTUDENTNURSE.ORG

Ashley Smith is a nursing student currently attending Eagle Gate College’s BSN program. She is an Air Force veteran with years of leadership experience. She serves as the secretary for her school’s NSNA chapter and is excited to be able to serve as the Region 2 Director for the UtSNA. Ashley will graduate in December 2019, and she plans to continue her education to become a Family Nurse Practitioner. She is eager to positively impact student nurses within the community by leading by example and influencing students to get involved in organizations that impact the lives of others.

Kayla Barker

Region 3 Director
region3director@UTAHSTUDENTNURSE.ORG

Kayla Barker is a student at Provo College and she I working towards her BSN and hopes to be able to go into any ICU setting when she graduates. Kayla decided to run for Region 3 Director because she wanted to share her personal skills with as many people as she could along with learning from those around her. She plans on pursuing a doctorate degree to become a Nurse Practitioner after she works in the field for a few years.

Maddy Baird

Region 4 Director 
region4director@UTAHSTUDENTNURSE.ORG

Maddy Baird is from Phoenix, Arizona and in her 2nd semester of Southern Utah University's BSN program. She has enjoyed her participation in SNA and is excited to be able to help further the program by serving as the region 4 director. She is passionate about SNA because it is a way for the students to reach out and better not only their nursing programs, but the community as a whole. There are so many amazing opportunities available for nursing students.Nursing students have the world at their fingertips and they don’t even know it. As the region director for Southern Utah, her goal to help these nursing students know how they can change the world and their communities. She wants students to learn to recognize the needs of the communities and how they can address them before they even graduate with their degrees.

Allison Swenson

Faculty Advisor
​facultyadviser2@utahsutdentnurse.org

Rieneke Holman

Faculty Advisor
facultyadviser1@utahstudentnurse.org

Rieneke received her bachelor’s degree from the University of Utah in 1997 and her master’s degree from the University of Utah in 2010. She currently teaches the first semester pharmacology course and is the Associate Degree Program Clinical Coordinator at Weber State University. She specialized in labor and delivery nursing and loves to teach maternity nursing as well as pharmacology. Rieneke is currently working on her doctorate degree from University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and her research interests include teaching strategies to help students retain pharmacology information for practice. Rieneke loves working with students and believes in promoting professionalism in nursing beginning at the student level. She has enjoyed serving as a faculty consultant to the state board because she has been able to get to know nursing students from all over the state.

Jennifer Harrington

Faculty Advisor
facultyadviser3@utahstudentnurse.org

I began my career in health sciences in 2002 as an EMT, advancing to an Intermediate-Advanced EMT in 2003 before changing focus and working as a medical assistant (MA). My interest to pursue a nursing career, spurred from those experiences and my journey towards a career in nursing officially began with my certification as a nursing assistant (CNA) in 2008, then a nursing degree (RN) in 2010, a Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) in 2013, and a master’s degree in nursing education and leadership (MSN) in 2017. As a nurse, I have been fortunate to practice in a variety of settings, including oncology, home health/rehab, long-term care, and hospice as well as nursing education. Currently, I am an Instructor and Program Coordinator in the DSU CNA program, Advisor to the Dixie Student Nurses Association and a Faculty Advisor for the Utah Student Nurses Association. I enjoy helping students learn, and I am committed to students' success!