The word “honor” has several meanings: high respect, great esteem, and adherence to what is right. Doing what is right, simply because it is the right thing to do is how Honorata Soltys lives her life.
Befitting of her name, Honorata, which means “to honor,” graduates this May from IU Northwest with her bachelor’s of science in nursing.
Honorata’s desire to help care for others, perhaps those most in need of her cheerful spirit, started long before her pre-nursing days at IU Northwest.
“Shortly after my mother and grandmother emigrated to the United States from Poland, babcia (my grandmother) fell terminally ill,” Soltys said.
For more than two decades, Honorata, alongside her mother and sister, have become babcia’s primary caretakers.
“I truly believe it was from the round-the-clock care, and regular visits to see babcia when she is in the hospital, that I found my true calling in caring for others,” Soltys added.
So, when the pandemic hit, it came as no surprise within the School of Nursing that she would rise to the occasion to help serve as the student site director of IU Northwest’s mitigation clinic, ensuring the clinic operated smoothly.
“Honorata showed great leadership skills and compassion when working at the campus’s COVID-19 mitigation clinic,” Jo Newman, clinical assistant professor, said. “She volunteered extra hours beyond those required, always with a smile on her face.
To say that Solty’s family is proud is an understatement. In her short 24 years, she has already experienced quite a few firsts: first-born American, first to earn a high school diploma, and now first to attend and graduate from college.
Her front-line experience, combined with her compassionate spirit, has helped her to secure a full-time position, upon graduation, as an RN at St. Mary’s Medical Center in Hobart
“She is a great example IU Northwest student,” Newman said. “She will make us proud.”