Photo by Neal Embry
Vestavia Hills Elementary Cahaba Heights school nurse Julie Corley stands with a plaque given to her after being named Alabama School Nurse of the Year.
For the past 10 years, Julie Corley has worked as the school nurse at Vestavia Hills Elementary Cahaba Heights, helping lead efforts to educate children on important health topics and volunteering her time for various school functions.
Going into her 11th year, Corley can add the title of best registered school nurse to her resume. Corley, one of only seven school nurses in the state to be nationally certified, was named Alabama School Nurse of the Year by the state’s association this summer. The award is given to nurses in select categories who go “above and beyond” their assigned duties. Corley won for the registered nurse category.
“It was a huge surprise, a huge honor,” Corley said.
“I love being a school nurse. … It’s been so rewarding.”
Corley, who previously worked at Indian Springs School and in a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), applied in the spring and received recommendations from multiple people, including peers, parents and even a student who said she was the “best nurse you’ll ever meet.”
“I love Nurse Julie because she looks after our school like we are her kids,” the student wrote. “When kids [are] sad, she calms them and makes them feel better. … Nurse Julie is the best nurse you’ll ever meet!”
During a surprise ceremony at the state’s annual meeting in Saraland, Corley’s family, without telling her, showed up to see her receive the award.
In her time at the school, Corley has served on a number of committees, helped organize Relay For Life and a silent auction for the school and has coached “Girls on the Run,” which teaches life skills to third through fifth grade girls, ending the program with a 5K.
The school, she said, is family.
“All of the support from the teachers and administration makes my job easy,” Corley said.
Dr. Alicia Hunsberger, the school’s principal, said Corley does a “fabulous” job as school nurse.
“She takes initiative in ways I haven’t seen school nurses do before,” Hunsberger said. “... She takes safety and health to a whole new level.”
Corley teaches both students and staff about healthy living, getting teachers and other faculty members involved in school-wide programs, Hunsberger said.
Corley said her favorite part of the job is forming relationships with students and seeing them grow and develop over the years. Relationships formed with diabetic students are especially important to her, as she said many students are diagnosed while at VHECH, allowing her to teach them to manage their disease and live with it.
“I love going into the classrooms and just teaching anything health-related, from germs in kindergarten to flu symptoms to the fifth graders,” Corley said.
Being named Alabama School Nurse of the Year confirms what the school already knew about Corley, Hunsberger said.
“We already knew we had the best nurse in town, now the whole state knows it,” Hunsberger said.
