From her childhood days of climbing the fence to get onto the Benet baseball field and walking to school, to now years later striding through the front doors as a familiar face for students and faculty, School Nurse Amanda Mclntyre has been drawn back to her roots: Benet Academy.
Nurse McIntyre may have spent her mornings as a high school student treading through the Benet baseball fields, but she spent her afternoons pitching on the St. Scholastica softball fields. In fact, she made history as the first Benet softball player to pitch a no-hitter game!
After high school, she continued her streak of successes at St. Ambrose University, where she obtained a Bachelor of Science in Nursing with minors in Biology and Chemistry. For the last 10 years, Nurse McIntyre has proven herself a versatile nurse with specialization in Oncology/Cancer Care, Chemo Infusion, Impatient Hospice, Labor and Delivery, Mother/Baby, NICU, and Pediatrics at Good Samaritan Hospital. But it doesn’t stop there. Beyond her scrubs, Nurse Mclntyre spread her wings when she started up her own photography business, Baby Bear Photography, in 2016. Her experience with babies and families in the NICU allows her to work well with her clients, which mostly include maternity, newborns, children, and families.
With three kids of her own, Nurse McIntyre prioritizes and advocates for youth mental health. She believes that physical and mental health work hand-and-hand, and one type cannot be obtained without the other’s presence. Not only did Nurse Mclntyre take this job as Benet school nurse to support students’ physical health, but also to spread this notion of emotional well-being to high school students. She hopes to make her office a place one can seek bodily care as well as a source of emotional support. Upon entering this job, she says she hopes she collaborates well with the counseling department. Sharing a strong passion for student mental stability, they likely will hit it off well.
When she’s not busy saving lives, Nurse Mclntyre enjoys spending her time trying new meals at restaurants, hanging out with her chocolate Labrador named Molly, attending her kids’ sports games, and traveling. Some of her favorite past vacations are Colorado, Maui and Kauai, and Disney World.
Nurse Mclntyre’s experience as a former Benet student, her versatile background in hospital nursing, and her commitment to teenage mental health have undoubtedly prepared her to continue her positive impact as our school nurse. With every bandaid she gives out to a kid with a scrape or every friendly smile she offers a student having a bad day, Nurse Mclntyre strives to act out her favorite quote—“be the change you wish to see in the world.”
