Ahead of Elon’s 135th Commencement on May 23, Today at Elon is highlighting several graduating seniors who have made the most of their Elon experience.
“When there’s one, there the other;” that’s what Amanda Jacobson and Taylor Capello’s nursing classmates say about the duo who describe themselves as “inseparable.”
“It’s true,” said Capello. “We work together, we live together, we do nursing school together.”
Capello and Jacobson will graduate in May as part of the inaugural cohort of Elon University’s Bachelor of Science in Nursing program. In 2021, Elon launched both a traditional four-year Bachelor of Science in Nursing program and a 16-month accelerated program for those who have already completed a bachelor’s degree. The Department of Nursing currently has 208 students enrolled, not including the 18 students who graduated from the accelerated program in December. Twenty-seven of those students will graduate on May 23 during Elon’s 135th Commencement.
Drawn together by nursing
While Capello and Jacobson grew up on different ends of the East Coast, Capello in New Hampshire and Jacobson in Florida, they were both drawn to Elon’s nursing program because it is direct entry. Prospective students apply for the program when they apply to Elon, rather than being accepted to Elon and then applying for the program after two years.
They each have also always known nursing was their path. Jacobson says her high school anatomy and physiology class helped develop her love for science, while Capello says she’s never wanted to do anything else.
“I knew what I wanted to do ever since I was a little kid,” said Capello. “I used to ask for first-aid kits for Christmas and birthdays.”
While the tight-knit nature of the program helped Capello and Jacobson grow close during their first two years, the duo took it to the next level when they decided to become roommates as well.
“I remember so specifically, I turned to her in the car one day and said, ‘Do you have any plans of where you’re living next year?”, said Capello. “And she said, ‘Oh my gosh, I was going to ask you the same thing, and we’ve lived together since.”
Elon is filled with exceptional students. Students that are intelligent, caring, passionate, empathetic and visionary leaders. Amanda and Taylor are all this and more.
-Jeanmarie Koonts, assistant professor of nursing
Nursing mentorship
Being part of the first cohort, Jacobson wanted to create an avenue for connection among nursing students, so she founded the Nursing Club, and Capello ran as her vice-president.
“With nursing being very stressful, we tried to create this club to really get the classes together because, being the first class, we didn’t have any mentors above us to help us get through the program,” Jacobson said. “So, as a senior class, we really wanted to be mentors for the classes below.”
The club is open to all undergraduates and hosts philanthropy events with NMDP (National Marrow Donor Program). So far, they have encouraged more than 300 Elon students to enter the bone marrow registry.
But each student stands on their own as well. Jacobson was the first School of Health Sciences senator in the Student Government Association and later the executive vice president for the 2024-25 academic year. Capello earned one of the first Andrew C. Bennett Wellness Innovation Grants to create a network that trains students on peer support through the American Nurses Association.
“I had my first intense clinical and I struggled with my emotions surrounding it, because I’m not a super emotional person, but for the first time, I was not in control of what I was feeling,” said Capello. “My dad is a first responder, and I talked a lot to him and he expressed the importance of connecting with your peers and other people that understand.”
Servant leaders
The intensity of the nursing program also didn’t stop both students from one of the quintessential Elon experiences: study abroad. Capello participated in a Winter Term program in Ireland while Jacobson studied art history and health in Italy for a Winter Term. Both students participated in the first of its kind experience to Cuba in Winter Term 2025.
“I fell in love with the people, and it was such a life-changing experience,” Capello said. “I’m so happy that I went.”
Both students credit the Department of Nursing faculty with helping guide them through the inaugural program.
“My favorite thing about the program was Professor Koonts,” said Jacobson. “She has become not only one of my favorite human beings and mentors, but a guiding light for me and a bunch of other students. If there is one thing I will take away from Elon as a whole, which of course there is many, it’s her and her kindness. I would not be where I am without her.”
And Koonts, assistant professor of nursing, says Capello and Jacobson helped her and the program as well.
“Amanda and Taylor have truly been helping us build our program. Each step along the way we’ve sought out their (and their cohorts) thoughts, opinions, ideas, and feedback while asking them to display resiliency as we changed, created and adapted the program,” said Koonts. “Yet, while others stopped at this step, Taylor and Amanda went above and beyond and have truly been servant leaders.”
Being able to bring life into the world and see and help a mother and a baby through all of that, it just felt like my calling.
-Amanda Jacobson ’25 on her decision to work in labor and delivery
Change agents
While Jacobson and Capello have been “inseparable” at Elon – their next steps will take them on similar, but different, paths. Upon passing the National Council Licensure Examination (NCLEX) to become registered nurses, Jacobson will be working on the labor and delivery unit at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland, and Capello will be working as a mother-baby nurse at Carillion Clinic in Roanoke, Virginia.
“Being able to bring life into the world and see and help a mother and a baby through all of that, it just felt like my calling,” said Jacobson.
Just as both nurses will focus on bringing life into the world, they’ve brought life into Elon’s new nursing program as well.
“Elon is filled with exceptional students. Students that are intelligent, caring, passionate, empathetic, and visionary leaders. Amanda and Taylor are all this and more,” said Koonts. “They are truly change agents and Elon’s nursing program is lucky to have had them as part of our inaugural cohort and to count them among our, soon to be, alumni.”