For some LeTourneau University nursing students, the journey from 
classroom to clinical care brings them to Camp Beloved and Beyond, a camp where children with special needs gather each summer and throughout other parts of the year. Thanks to the generosity of a donor passionate about hands-on education and compassionate service, a select group of students are invited to apply what they've learned in their labs and lectures in one of the most rewarding environments imaginable. “I think it's a unique opportunity to see like how their brain works and how you can be a friend to somebody also just. Change someone's life for the better during the time that the students come to camp, they have the honor and the privilege of being a one-on-one buddy with our campers or our friends with special needs.” (Olivia Butcher, Nursing, 2026)
Under the guidance of adjunct professor and seasoned nurse practitioner Shelly Nalbone, students gain real-world experience as they shadow her 
through the daily rhythms of camp life and even learn how camp has changed her experiences for the better. “Prior to me arriving at camp, I always felt like I was a really good nurse but when I came to camp, I realized that what our patients and families really need is they need someone to see them, they need someone to hear them, and they need someone to understand them, and to do it in a way that honors them completely redefined the way I practiced nursing and practice as a nurse practitioner.” Nalbone walks alongside the nursing students, showing how to administer medications safely and compassionately, all while modeling the kind of attentive care that addresses not just physical needs but emotional and spiritual ones too. The campers may be small, but the lessons are big—and lasting. Nalbone states, “This experience has been life changing for some of these nursing students, students who come to camp and then they leave. I keep in touch with them, and they say, wow, I really didn't know how to be a good nurse until I came here.”
For years, LeTourneau has partnered with Beloved and Beyond for spring break missions and adding a nursing camp a few years ago was an incredible addition to the overall experience for our students. Olivia Butcher, Senior Nursing student, along with a few other nursing students had the 
unique opportunity to work directly in the camp clinic alongside Professor Nalbone this summer. Throughout the week, the students helped care for campers with a variety of complex medical needs, learning how to manage medications, respond to emergent situations, and provide comfort in unfamiliar circumstances. “I loved working in the clinic. I get to work alongside somebody who is an expert with children, but it was also very, low stress so I was not worried about giving medications to children for the first time.” (Olivia Butcher, Nursing, 2026)
LeTourneau is big on caring for a person as a whole – physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. At camp, our students got the chance to truly care for their buddy as whole and one on one. “During the week at camp, 
learned that God is very intentional with everything. There's a reason why I got paired my camper with and a reason why I attended during that and got to help and do all the activities with my camper. Beloved and Beyond is about changing lives. Camp not only changed my campers life, but mine.”
