Student Spotlight: From Starting Blocks to Scrubs, UMSN Senior Prepares for Strong Finish

“My coach was pretty hesitant when I first started talking to him about being part of the team and a nursing major,” says Danielle Pfeifer, a University of Michigan School of Nursing senior. The coach’s hesitation was understandable considering the complex schedules of both the rigorous nursing and competitive track and field programs at U-M.

But Pfeifer was determined. Now in the final semester of her senior year, the middle-distance runner from Cincinnati, Ohio, has earned accolades on the track and in academics, including as a multi-year All-American. She’s been named a Big Ten Distinguished Scholar and U-M Athletic Academic Achievement Award winner.

Pfeifer credits her coach and teammates for helping her make it work. “Right now I have clinical at 10 a.m. and leave at 8:30 p.m., so on those days I can never make it to our 3:30 p.m. practice,” says Pfeifer. “But my coach and teammates are willing to wake up early so we can work out before I have to go to the hospital.”

Daily practices, weightlifting sessions, and weekly travel for competitions are routine for Pfeifer, in addition to nursing clinicals, a full course schedule, volunteering at U-M’s Mott Children’s Hospital, and preparing for the nursing board exams (known as NCLEX) after graduation.

Pfeifer will be a third-generation nurse, following in the footsteps of her grandmother, mother and aunt. “They’re excited to have a new person in the nursing conversations,” laughed Pfeifer.

There was more in the family history that led Pfeifer to nursing. When she was 13 years old, her twin cousins were born more than three months premature. “I saw the interaction the nurses had with my aunt,” says Pfeifer. “Nurses have a really special job, and I think that’s when I realized it.”

She says nursing was always a leading career choice, but it was running that first brought her to Michigan. “My high school coach brought me here to tour the campus when I was a sophomore and I fell in love,” says Pfeifer. “I learned U-M has one of the best nursing schools in the country, and when I found out we were directly admitted into nursing school that was huge for me. We had exposure to clinical settings our freshman year and that was important.”

Before Pfeifer permanently hangs up her competitive running shoes, she has one more goal in mind. “If this season goes well, I would like to make it to the NCAA Outdoor Track Nationals,” says Pfeifer. “It’s within reach.”

But Pfeifer says no matter what happens with running, she’s excited to begin her career in nursing and plans to work in pediatrics.

“I don’t know that I would have been able to get so much out of each, nursing and running, if I went somewhere else,” says Pfeifer. “It’s been incredible.”