CONCORD, NH – Edie Hamilton-Claypool has an alphabet soup of credentials after her name – MSN Ed, RN, CPN, CPST – but it all began with an ADN from NHTI.
In March 2024, she participated in a Global Smile Foundation mission in Ecuador as a nurse in the pediatric post-anesthesia care unit (PACU). Working alongside other medical professionals from around the world to change children’s lives was transformative, and plans are already in place for her to travel on medical missions to El Salvador in January 2025, followed by Ecuador next March and then Lebanon in April.
Edie discovered the benefit of a NHTI education on her own and now says that she “talks up” NHTI to anybody who will listen.
“I tell potential nursing students that NHTI can give you the same experiences as a 4-year university but to think about how much money they’ll save and how quickly they will have a career. That’s a huge advantage.”
Greatness Begins with a Single Step
Edie graduated high school with plans to become a doctor. Two years into a pre-med program at a 4-year college, she realized her true calling was to work more closely with patients as a nurse. She didn’t need to look far for inspiration. Edie’s mother had received her Associate Degree in Nursing (ADN) from NHTI – Concord’s Community College in 2001 and joined Concord Hospital as a pediatric nurse. The same path beckoned Edie.
“My mom was a huge factor in going to NHTI but I was also impressed by their curriculum and how rigorous the program was,” she says. “I knew the curriculum was one of the best for an ADN program and that NHTI had a 99 percent pass rate for the NCLEX nursing exam.”
She enrolled at NHTI and loved the immediate immersion in hands-on clinical work.
“The ability to learn while you are caring for patients is huge. Most nurses are kinesthetic learners, so we learn by doing.”
Edie graduated from NHTI in 2017, receiving the Dr. Goldie Crocker Nursing Excellence Award – just as her mother had 16 years before – and joined the nursing staff at Concord Hospital. She had been offered a position in the hospital’s medical/surgical unit while she was still doing her practicum at NHTI.
One year later, Edie transferred to the hospital’s pediatric unit, and it was a perfect fit.
“Right from the beginning, an instructor at NHTI told me I was meant to be a pediatric nurse. I said, ‘No, my mom’s a pediatric nurse!’ But nursing instructors know where you are supposed to be.”
Edie earned a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Capella University in 2020 while working full-time. When she changed to a position working in pediatric oncology at Dartmouth Health Children’s, she discovered a passion both for the “best patients that she has ever had” and for teaching. At Dartmouth Health, she taught a course for hospital staff on bereavement and second trauma syndrome that revealed her talents as an educator. She went on to receive her master’s degree in nursing education from Capella in 2022.
Moving Forward with Confidence
Edie blends an active teaching schedule with her nursing responsibilities. She is an assistant professor of nursing at the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences and returned to NHTI as an adjunct faculty member in February 2024. When Edie was approached about teaching in the pediatric clinical program at NHTI, she agreed immediately.
“NHTI was a life- changing experience for me. I am so happy I can give back to provide the same phenomenal education that I received.”
She schedules her missions for slower times in her academic calendar and is now a per diem nurse at Dartmouth Health Children’s to maintain flexibility. When she has time to think about all she has done and the people that she has helped, Edie feels that she is right where she was meant to be.
“All along the way, I’ve had a lot of ‘I told you so’s’ that I belonged in pediatric nursing. I just took a little bit of a roundabout way to get to where I am.”
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NHTI – Concord’s Community College
NHTI – Concord’s Community College is a dynamic public 2-year college that provides rewarding academics and a full campus experience for students, businesses, and the community. NHTI offers 80+ academic programs to 4,600+ students annually. Our programs include Nursing, Dental Hygiene, Engineering, Liberal and Visual Arts, Education, Criminal Justice, and Mathematics, all with our stellar reputation for academic excellence earned over our more than 50 years serving the Concord community. NHTI is accredited by the New England Commission of Higher Education and is part of the Community College System of New Hampshire.
Press Contact Amber Gavriluk | 603-230-4001 | [email protected]
