Rowan College at Burlington County alumna Savannah Bowen played for the 2016 and 2017 Barons softball teams. She completed her Associate of Science in 2017 before being accepted into the RCBC Digital Sonography program, which she completed in the Spring of 2019. She now serves as an Ultrasound Technician/Sonographer for both Virtua Health and Temple University Hospital Episcopal.

While at RCBC, she earned Academic All-Region and RCBC Scholar-Athlete honors. She also received the NCJAA Superior Achievement Award that honors student-athletes with a GPA above 3.60.

We thank Savannah for taking a few minutes to answer some questions about her time as a Baron and give some advice on how we can all help flatten the curve.

Q: When did you know you wanted to get into health care?

A: When I was in my first year at RCBC, I took courses for a liberal arts and sciences degree not knowing what I wanted to do yet. During this time, my grandmother had been admitted to Deborah, and I went to visit her. Seeing how the nurses collaborated with the technicians and doctors to help my grandmother regain her strength encouraged me to want to be able to help people as part of a healthcare team. I noticed RCBC offered healthcare programs and at the end of my softball career, I applied and luckily was accepted.

Q: Who was a person or people who had an impact on you during your time at RCBC?

A: When I was unsure of my degree, I went to multiple counselors at RCBC who helped me along my way to find my passion, but the person who really helped me was the athletic administration and my teammates. Craig Dewar, who at the time was the athletic coordinator, talked with me a lot about my classes and my goals. Heather Conger helped me to figure out how to balance my school life and my athletic career in the meetings we had. My teammate Nicole Nixon was already in the nursing program, and she gave me tips on how the program works and what’s included which made me feel like it was possible for me too. I wanted to explore more about what RCBC had to offer healthcare wise.

Q: What is the most rewarding part of your job?

A: When I work in the ER doing ultrasounds, I have some very rewarding moments. For example, pediatric patients of every age come in with fear in their eyes and tears on their cheeks. I make them feel as comfortable as possible and perform their exam to the best of my ability with their parents by their side hoping for the best. When a parent and child thank me for what I do and they are both no longer as fearful, I feel as though I have done my job right. Also, I clearly remember one of my patients who was extremely afraid, stressed and not very kind to me in the beginning of her exam. I performed my exam and was very kind to her despite the rude comments because I understand that fear makes people act differently. At the end of the exam, she apologized and said she was so thankful for me doing my job so well and being so nice to her, and that was such a rewarding feeling.

Q: How do you see COVID-19 changing/shaping your profession moving forward?

A: Moving forward I believe everyone in healthcare and even all the patients in any hospital are going to be more careful and vigilant. I think healthcare workers, like myself, are going to continue to perform to the best of our ability like we have been trained to do no matter what. At the end of the day, our job is to help everyone to stay well.

Q: What advice would you give people during this time as we work to flatten the curve?

A: Keep an open and positive mind. Also, I would advise people to continue washing their hands and being careful with touching public surfaces. Just like the flu, this virus is spread through direct human contact when surfaces like hands are not cleaned regularly.

Q: What is your favorite memory as a Baron student-athlete?

A: My favorite memory as a Baron student-athlete was at our away game at Rutgers University when I was playing center field. I remember we were at the end of the inning with two outs and a big hitter came up to the plate. The ball was hit and flew further and further toward the fence, but I ran my heart out to catch it over the lip of the fence to turn a home run into an out for my team. We ended up winning the game and it was such an amazing feeling that I could help my team do so.

We thank Savannah for her efforts to keep our community safe during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Know someone who should be featured in a future alumni profile? Please email us at marketing@rcbc.edu.