Friends and Neighbors: Emily Stull

Kimball loves to see her children come back home.

Past Kimball graduate Emily Stull did just that. Like many Kimball graduates, Emily Stull moved away to attend college following high school graduation.

She attended WNCC in Scottsbluff, where she completed her nursing prerequisites, then followed up in North Platte where she completed her studies while working at the hospital in the dialysis unit, before moving to the Denver area to begin working in her chosen field, nursing.

She returned to Kimball in 2015 and began working at Kimball Health Services, but when the school nurse position opened up, she was happy to take the position.

Stull brings a fun new energy to the school nurse position. She has started a Facebook page, recently organized a walk/bike to school day and plans a second one in the Spring. She also hopes to collaborate with gym teacher Dane Wurdeman for the annual Jump Rope for Heart campaign.

"I was super happy (with the turnout). Nobody was really behind the idea. They were like, 'What are you going to do if its cold?'" Stull said. "So I was impressed. That is part of wellness, doing it even when you don't want to."

Though, in her position, Stull see students for a variety of acute reasons such as sore throats and stomach aches, she hopes to focus, too, on the keeping kids healthy.

"I really want to work with kids and family on wellness. It's a new aspect that we have not focused on before," she said. "We are treating kids for chronic conditions, but we don't talk about how we can make our kids healthy so they can learn better and do better in school. That is one of my main priorities."

Wellness is a subject near to Stull's heart. Following a 2014 surgery, after which she lost 80 pounds she was intent on remaining well and building on her healthy start.

"I met a whole bunch of people who had weight loss surgery and were celebrating how skinny they had gotten," she said. "I think that's great, but for me personally, it was like 'What am I going to do now?'"

She focused on better nutrition and began training for, then completed, an indoor tri-athalon in January, 2016. Training has helped her achieve her original goal, to keep the excess weight off and better her health.

Wanting to build on that experience, she searched for more similar opportunities. Though 5k competitions are plentiful, Stull wanted to find something that required training and could test her. Her half-marathon training provides just two rest days a week and doubles as a time to focus inwardly and clear her mind.

"I want to do something that I'm actually going to have to put some time and effort into," she said. "So I trained and did the Colfax half marathon in May."

Following that half marathon, a 13 mile run, Stull was hooked. She had so much fun competing that she began looking for more opportunities to push her limits.

"It was such a happy, good experience. I said 'I have to do this again.' I did it one time, but now how can I do this even better?" she said. "So, I did the Monument Marathon, half marathon, on Sept. 24."

Though the course was tough, Stull is proud to say that she cut seven minutes off her time and achieved her goals. She advocates for 20 minutes of activity daily, and encourages parents to work with their kids, making activity fun and helping them achieve their own goals.

"Children have to be healthy to learn, but they also have to learn to be healthy," she concluded.