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Sarah Buckley began her service to others when, as a child, her mother took her to visit nursing home residents.

“I was about seven or eight when I started. I would chat with the residents. They love to see children. Sitting and chatting with the residents makes a lot of difference. Some don’t have any family, and it brightens their mood.”

Buckley, from Quispamsis, will graduate from the department of nursing and health sciences at the University of New Brunswick’s (UNB) Saint John campus this spring.

“I chose nursing because my mom, Sheana Mohra (BN’01), and my grandmother, Marie Mohra, are both nurses, and I volunteered a lot in the nursing home where my mom worked. I always knew I wanted to be in healthcare,” she said.

Buckley said she chose UNB’s Saint John campus because her parents went there—her father, Skeeter Buckley (BBA’99), met her mother there—and because of the proximity to the Saint John Regional Hospital.

“There were some excellent opportunities. Plus, I didn’t have to move away,” Buckley said.

Buckley’s volunteer work continued past childhood.

“I have always taken on volunteer roles. I was student body president in high school, and I just have a calling to speak up for others. I’m not shy!”

Her leadership skills were evident early, and they continued to develop during her time at UNB.

Buckley joined the UNBSJ Nursing Society in her first year and was elected president in her final year.

She served as a student representative on the Nursing and Health Services Curriculum Committee and was a student panellist at the International Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) conference, where she spoke to an online forum about her perspective on long-term care placement, discussing both the challenges and the positive aspects for nursing students.

“There is a lot of joy that comes with working in long-term care, something I am very passionate about, and I was happy to be chosen to share that on a global level,” she said.

She gained first-hand experience through her first-year clinical nursing placement in a long-term care setting. In June, Buckley will take up a position at the Medical Surgical Intensive Care Unit at the Saint John Regional Hospital.

“I love the science of nursing, and I like the autonomous role a nurse has in a critical care setting. There is a lot of variety, and I have always been interested in acute and critical care, so I decided to give it a shot,” she said.

She will also continue a casual position at Rocmaura Nursing Home in Saint John, where she has worked for four years, starting as a personal support worker and leading up to a registered nurse.

Buckley credits UNB for sharpening her leadership skills and preparing her for diverse nursing roles.

“I feel that at UNB, they have really homed in on the leadership part of nursing and being flexible in your thinking. Nurses are very much leaders in their jobs, and I think that piece has really helped me with different nursing roles because long-term care and ICU are very different,” she said.

“I have concrete leadership skills I’ve learned throughout my life and at UNB as a nurse. I think that has helped with my employment and career so far.”

Her preceptorship on the cardiac services floor at the Saint John Regional Hospital post-op for open-heart surgeries was a pivotal experience.

“That whole work term, I was able to work like a nurse, and things started to fall into place for me. The patients are very high risk when they are fresh out of surgery. There are a lot of caps you need to wear to be a good nurse.”

Buckley appreciated the close-knit community at UNB’s Saint John campus.

“Saint John is a smaller campus, so you know all your professors by name, and they know you by name. They know who you are as a person and as a nurse. They know just the right things to say and do to bring out a certain part of you to get the job done. They are also highly trained in their fields, and it is very valuable to have that knowledge shared,” she said.

“There were so many things discussed in my nursing program. There are so many opportunities for registered nurses. There is leadership and advocacy, bedside nursing, and many other things from which a nurse could choose. There are many niche things, too.”

Buckley offered advice for prospective students considering nursing at UNB’s Saint John campus.

“One thing that drew me to UNB’s Saint John campus is the Saint John Regional Hospital, which is right next to the campus. It is a big tertiary care hospital. They have a level 1 trauma centre and the New Brunswick Heart Centre. There are so many things that happen in that building that you don’t know about until you get in there and see it. You learn from highly trained people. You get into the hospital and learn on the job,” she said.

"I know that with the solid education I received here at UNB, I really have a lot of open doors. I can choose anything."

Photo: UNB’s Saint John campus 2025 nursing graduate Sarah Buckley, centre, with her grandmother Marie Mohra, left, and mother Sheana Mohra (BN’01), both nurses.