Fast Track to Success

rowing up in the Bay Area, Daniel Rietz considered a career in biofuel research. After a year in biotech, the 2017 UC Berkeley graduate wanted to see more immediate results, so he transitioned into natural resource management. His life changed when he took a wilderness medicine course.

“Doing that course was really my first foray into medicine,” he said. “It was fascinating to me intellectually, and the practical hands-on side appealed to the way I like to learn.”

Rietz decided to pursue a career in nursing, which would bring an immediate positive impact to people’s lives and solid job prospects. As someone who grew up with financial instability, Rietz said that affordability was a primary concern when choosing a nursing program.

“I did some napkin math to figure out that the earlier earning potential of an accelerated program could outweigh the cost savings of a conventional associate degree, and pursuing an in-state program at a CSU was one of the ways to make it more affordable,” he said. “CSUN was the first nursing program I applied to. I got accepted, said ‘Let’s do it,’ and started last fall.”

CSUN and its College of Health and Human Development also offered support for students concerned about the costs of higher education. During orientation, Rietz was introduced to the Sipma Family Nursing Scholarship. The scholarship, established by Encino residents Dale and Carol Sipma, provides funding for students in the 15-month accelerated bachelor of science in nursing (A-BSN) program, designed for students like Rietz who already hold a bachelor’s degree in another field.

“I wrote an essay and was very lucky to be accepted as one of the scholarship recipients this year — I’m truly grateful,” Rietz said. “Receiving the Sipma Scholarship was a moment of someone saying, ‘I believe in you.’ That was freeing and reduced some of the anxiety I have about the debt that I’m incurring, attending this program.”

Since the scholarship was established in 2019, 87 students have been awarded a scholarship. Sipma Scholarship recipients have gone on to work in an array of vital fields including neonatal ICUs and other ICUs, critical-care transport teams, oncology units, ERs and more. To further their impact for generations to come, the Sipmas recently earmarked significant funds from their estate plan to endow the scholarship.

The Sipmas are not CSUN alumni, but they understand the university’s impact on the community and wanted to help address a shortage of nurses.

“I was interested in supporting students from all different backgrounds who had one life trajectory and then made a pivot to something totally different,” said Dale Sipma, a retired aerospace engineer. “I like to give locally and have visibility into where my money is going and what it’s doing. I get thank-you notes [from the scholars], and I find out that they’ve moved on to successful careers in nursing. It’s very gratifying.”

Rebekah Child, chair of the Department of Nursing, said that the positive impact the Sipma Scholarship has had on students’ and patients’ lives is incalculable.

“Dale Sipma was like this amazing uncle who came down from the heavens and decided he wanted to support these students,” she said. “Then, he and Carol gave the first gift and a second gift, and they keep on giving.

“If you estimate that each nurse on average takes care of four patients a day, and if you’ve supported 70 nurses, you’re supporting 280 patients a day to get good healthcare,” Child continued. “So, it’s very fortunate and we’re very grateful that this program spoke to them.”

Mechelle Best, dean of CSUN’s College of Health and Human Development, said the Sipmas’ support helps reduce the cost of pursuing a nursing degree.

“The Sipmas stepped in from the early years of the A-BSN to offer a critical lifeline for some of our students,” Best said. “Their support ripples across our community because the nursing degree changes the trajectory of our students’ and their families’ lives and, ultimately, allows them to impact the health and welfare of many in our community.”

Rietz has felt this impact personally.

“CSUN is doing a great job teaching a new generation of nurses,” he said. “For my peers who also received the Sipma Scholarship, it’s taken a huge weight off their shoulders. And for me, it’s empowered my pursuit of this career where I feel I can truly make a difference.”

For the Sipmas, their gift keeps on giving. In fact, when Carol Sipma had surgery at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, they experienced the impact of their gift first-hand.

“One of the nurses caring for my wife recognized the last name Sipma,” Dale Sipma recalled. “We got to talking, and it turned out she was one of the first CSUN scholarship recipients. She was a post-surgery nurse, and we got a big thanks and a hug.” —Laura Ferreiro