Catawba College boasts an impressive diversity here on campus, with students from across the states to across borders and oceans. The culture of the campus is rich and beautiful because of the variety of people here, but with so many young adults growing accustomed to being far from home, college itself can prove to be excessively overwhelming. Luckily, new and returning Catawba students have a hidden support team on campus.

The nurses at the Proctor Health Center in the Student Center building are two of the most genuine women on campus. In fact, Nurses Candy and Kathi were adamant students should know that no matter how far they are from home, they have some “surrogate mothers” happy to show their support here in the Proctor Health Center.

Nurse Candy Fesperman is a Salisbury native. Her children are stretched between here and South Carolina, and she treasures all of her grandchildren dearly. Weekends are painted with recitals, rehearsal, and games of volleyball and other sports to support her grandkids. In her free time, Nurse Candy loves to tend to her flower garden and keep up with tennis.

Nurse Kathi Welborn hails from Greenville, NC, but she has called Salisbury home for the last 28 years. Her children and grandchildren are also nearby in the surrounding-Charlotte area, and she sees them quite frequently. Her weekends are also filled with recitals, basketball games, and other similar events. Nurse Kathi’s favorite thing to do in her free time is read a good book.

When asked for advice for new or returning students, Nurse Candy emphasized the need for adequate rest. She says that if a student isn’t resting or eating well, college can get more difficult than it needs to be because assignments and life in general can be frustrating. Nurse Kathi also added that without adequate rest or a steady diet, it is easier to get sick around so many people on campus. Both ladies also expressed the importance of saying “no” to peer pressure and holding on to their values in a new environment.

The Proctor Health Center has a doctor on campus Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays without appointments needed for aid, but Nurses Candy and Kathi are open to talk about any problems students may have, whether they are health-related or not. “We would like to know that our grandchildren are looked-after wherever they go in life,” Nurse Kathi said. “So we like to provide that same comfort of support to others,” Nurse Candy agreed. Family back home can have faith and students can breathe a sigh of relief knowing that there is ready and reliable support on campus for any kind of troubles, both personal and health-related.

[This article is featured in the Fall 2016 Print Edition of the Catawba Pioneer.]