PEMBROKE — UNC Pembroke Clinical Assistant Professor Jermecka Hamilton Covington has been named the 2021 Rookie of The Year by the North Carolina Nurses Association.
The annual award is given by the NCNA board of directors to a nurse who has been a member less than two years and excels at promoting a positive image of nursing and the professional organization to peers and consumers.
Covington is recognized for making a difference at UNCP and within her community and for her commitment and service to humanity. She is a member of the adjunct nursing faculty in the McKenzie-Elliott School of Nursing and teaches in the pre-licensure Baccalaureate of Nursing Science (BSN) program. She joined the UNCP family in 2015. She earned bachelor’s degrees in psychology and nursing from Fayetteville State University and a master’s degree focusing on advanced nursing education from Winston-Salem State University.
Covington was honored at an awards luncheon during the NCNA 114th annual convention in Concord on Sept 23.
“It warms my heart to humbly receive such a prestigious honor,” Covington said.
“I have overcome several obstacles through the grace of God. After receiving the award, I could only reflect on the goodness of my Lord and savior, my mother, Dianne Hamilton, who imparted the unprecedented vision of me becoming a nurse while I was 11 years old, my grandmother, Doretha Hamilton a former a nursing assistant and graduate from the first NA program at Richmond Community College in the 1970s, my wonderful resilient children Jaylin, Kalyn, Kameryn and Kara, Dr. Cherry Beasley, interim dean of the College of Health Sciences at UNCP, and the ladies of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. chapter of Upsilon Kappa Omega.
“Nursing is my passion and my calling. I have always seen it as a healing ministry, even when I would care for my critically ill patients in intensive care units and while volunteering in the free health care setting at the care clinic.”