"I just feel beyond blessed to be part of this school and part of this community," Rudyard Area School nurse Karen Perkins said.
Voting is in full swing for America’s Greatest School Nurse and the finalist for Michigan is from the Upper Peninsula.
The Rudyard Elementary School principal stumbled across the contest put on by Pfizer, Inc. and knew she had to submit her nurse, Karen Perkins.
9 & 10’s Blayke Roznowski and photojournalist Noah Jurik talked to Karen and the person who nominated her about the huge honor.
"I don’t do what I do for recognition," Perkins said. "I do it because I love helping people and I love the kids and to be recognized like that, it would be once in a lifetime."
For Karen Perkins, serving as the school nurse at Rudyard Area School for the last six years has been a joy.
"Just the kids. I like kids and I like being a part of the community and this job kind of gives you the best of both worlds," Perkins said.
When the principal at the elementary school, Wendy Peterson, heard about the contest for America’s Greatest School Nurse she decided to submit Karen.
"We not only benefit from her expertise in the medical field, we also benefit from her care and compassion towards our students," Peterson said. "We are very fortunate to have someone not only representing our school, but our community."
Peterson wrote a 600 word essay, which was good enough to get Perkins chosen as the one school nurse representing Michigan in the contest.
The winner gets a vacation over the summer.
While that prize would be nice for her family, Karen says the thought of representing Rudyard is even more special.
"I’m pretty excited, more so for the community than myself," Perkins said. "I just, I love Rudyard. I love the community and I would love to put it on the map."
"We know that Karen is America’s Greatest School Nurse, but just to have Rudyard recognized as having her, I think it would mean a lot," Peterson said.
You can vote for Karen once a day until April 16 .
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