Parent
Reflection
Mylah O’Hanlon in a senior sash holding yellow flowers while posing with her parents, Matt and Bobbi Jo, against a brick wall.
From left, Matt, Mylah and Bobbi Jo O’Hanlon celebrate Mylah’s high school graduation before she began pursuing a nursing career at SRU.

Supported to Succeed

O’Hanlon family affirmed by choosing SRU thanks to scholarship that enabled daughter’s growth
By Aidan Treu ’26
(Editor’s note: This Parent Reflection is a continuation of our Student Spotlight article “Cultivating Compassion“)
M

att and Bobbi Jo O’Hanlon have seen firsthand how Slippery Rock University’s nursing program and access to an affordable education can spur intellectual and interpersonal growth for their daughter, Mylah, a junior nursing major from Derry.

“As parents, you want to know that your child is in a place where people care about them, not just their grades,” Bobby Jo said. “We have seen Mylah become more confident and more sure of herself since she started at SRU, and that has been wonderful to see.”

Mylah was the first recipient of the Louise C. and Arthur G. Williams Scholarship, which is awarded to a third-year, pre-licensure BSN student with at least a 3.0 GPA.

“We have been very happy with Mylah’s decision to attend SRU,” Bobbi Jo said. “Her experiences with her nursing professors and advisers have really stood out to us. It is comforting to know that she has people at SRU who know her, encourage her, and want her to do well. She talks about how helpful and supportive they have been and, as a parent, that means a lot.”

Nursing is a rapidly developing field of study, and it takes the right combination of education, support and experiences to produce forward-thinking and proficient professionals.

After starting on the pre-physician assistant student track, Mylah began studying in SRU’s accelerated 1+2+1 Bachelor of Science in Nursing program. The new program is more tailored to her interests and allows her to develop the social intelligence needed to work directly with patients in the medical field.

“We have seen her become more confident and independent. She talks about how helpful and supportive [her professors] have been, and as a parent, that means a lot.”

The scholarship Mylah earned has helped ease her transition into the new program, assisting in making her ideal career goals possible.

“The Williams Scholarship meant a lot to our family,” Bobbi Jo said. “College is expensive, and as parents, you always worry about how you are going to make everything work. The scholarship took away some of that financial stress and helped make it possible for Mylah to attend SRU and pursue nursing.”

The O’Hanlons had the chance to meet with Art Williams. They discussed the Williams’ story behind creating the scholarship.

“It was meaningful to hear what led him to want to help students and to see how much he genuinely cares about making a difference,” Bobbi Jo said.

“It has been really special to watch Mylah grow since starting at Slippery Rock. We have seen her become more confident and independent, and she has really grown into her own. Nursing school is not easy, and we have watched her work hard and overcome challenges along the way. We are very proud of how she has handled it.”

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