Student-athletes committed to care and competition

Tyler Waugh, BSN, RN (BSN 2025)

Bachelor of Science in Nursing alumnus and UAB baseball player Tyler Waugh, says nursing, just like baseball, is a team sport. While at UAB, the student-athlete successfully balanced a busy practice and game schedule with a demanding course load to earn his Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree in Spring 2025.

Some of Waugh’s earliest memories are at the baseball park, and he struggles to remember a time when the sport was not a part of his life. Similarly, he envisioned a career for himself in the health care industry from a young age. When the time came for him to apply to college, Waugh realized he had the opportunity to merge these aspirations. For him, becoming a Blazer was the best choice.

“I knew I wanted to play baseball coming out of high school, and I got recruited to play at UAB. I also knew that the UAB School of Nursing is one of the top-rated nursing schools in the country and is known for working with student athletes to help them be successful at their sport and in nursing school at the same time. Putting all those pieces together, I felt like it was a no-brainer,” Waugh said.

As a pre-nursing student, Waugh was a Dean’s Nursing Scholar. Dean’s Scholars are pre-nursing students who receive priority admission to the School of Nursing during their senior year of high school if they have a 3.8 GPA and have been admitted through the UAB Office of Undergraduate Admission. Once enrolled at UAB, Dean’s Nursing Scholars must maintain a 3.2 GPA overall and in required nursing prerequisite courses. Waugh said his participation in this program held him accountable to take his prerequisite classes seriously and gave him a sense of security.

“It was very comforting to know I had a spot in the nursing school. This is a very competitive, fantastic nursing school,” Waugh said.

During his first semester as a BSN student, he quickly learned the importance of time management and communication as he dove into classes and a packed baseball schedule. He would encourage other student-athletes to take a day-by-day approach and to invest in relationships with their professors and coaches.

“Take things one step at a time, because it’s easy to get overwhelmed. With baseball I’m traveling a lot and am out of state 45 days of the season, so being able to communicate effectively is a huge thing,” Waugh said. “Don’t be afraid to reach out to your professors—the faculty here at the School of Nursing want you to succeed and really do care about you.”

He kept a positive outlook by staying present and remaining grateful for the opportunity to attend the school of his dreams while playing the game he loves. Waugh said support from his professors, coaching staff, friends and family kept him grounded.

“I wouldn’t be able to do it without my faith and my amazing support system. I have great friends, family and coaches and a fantastic faculty here at the School of Nursing. They all push me to be my best and strive for my goals. It’s going to be tough no matter what, but my family reminds me to take things one day at a time and one step at a time. They tell me not to look too far into the future but to be present,” Waugh said.

As he enters the beginning of his nursing career, Waugh is thankful for the lessons he has learned as a student-athlete.

“Juggling baseball with my academics forced me to learn time management and communication skills, which I know will serve me well in the future. Baseball is just a game, but when I get to the hospital, it’s real life. It’s someone’s dad, someone’s mom or someone’s family that I’m responsible for,” Waugh said.

While it has been challenging at times, Waugh has never shied away from adversity.

“If life was easy all the time, I think it would be pretty boring,” Waugh said.

During his four years of UAB baseball, Waugh cherished the friendships he formed with teammates. At the School of Nursing, he considered his cohort his “team,” as they worked toward a common goal and pushed one another to succeed. Between his baseball team and BSN cohort, Waugh felt equipped to join a much larger team of health care professionals in the hospital setting.

“Team building and baseball go hand in hand. On the baseball team we have roughly 40 people and in the nursing cohort we have around 150 people. Then in the hospital you have a whole team of health care providers. The nursing profession and baseball are both team sports. If we have 39 good players and one bad player, then the team is going to struggle, and the same is true in the hospital setting. If you don’t have effective and clear communication, then you’re putting patients’ lives at risk,” Waugh said.

Whether he represented UAB at a baseball game, cared for patients in a clinical, or studied for a test with his classmates, Waugh wore the Blazer name with pride.

“To be a Blazer is to have a commitment to excellence. You have to be willing to give it your all on and off the field. On the field I want to give back to the community and win for the school,” Waugh said. “When I was at school, I remembered that the UAB School of Nursing is one of the top nursing schools in the country. To be able to wear the green scrubs is a huge blessing. It also comes with a little pressure, but I like the challenge. There’s definitely a higher standard, and I take that with a lot of pride.”

Waugh now works in the Cardiovascular Intensive Care Unit at UAB Hospital.

Molly Moffitt, BSN student

Fourth-semester BSN student Molly Moffitt keeps a packed schedule between nursing school and UAB Women’s Basketball. If she is not at practice or a game, she is in class or at clinicals. While managing both has been challenging, she feels grateful for the opportunities she’s had at UAB, both in academics and athletics.

While basketball was Moffitt’s primary focus growing up, she also had an interest in learning about human physiology and enjoyed building connections with others. That curiosity, combined with her experiences as an athlete, led her to consider nursing as a career.

“I love people and feel like I never meet a stranger, so I knew I wanted to be around people in my career,” Moffitt said. “I’ve also never really gotten stressed out during medical situations I’ve been around being involved in sports. My initial reaction has always been, ‘what can I do to help?’”

UAB was a long way from home for Moffitt, who is originally from Seattle, but she committed to the university the day of her campus tour.

“There was a big emphasis on school during the recruitment process, and I knew I wanted to be a nurse and do something in the medical field,” Moffitt said. “I went on my campus visit to UAB and committed that day because I loved it so much. I learned about the nursing program and how great it was. It was far away, but I chose UAB because I love basketball and school.”

Balancing the responsibilities of nursing school and basketball has sharpened Moffitt’s time management and communication skills, both of which have been essential to her success as a student-athlete.

“Everything carries over in terms of life lessons and skills and learning how to communicate with people,” Moffitt said. “If I wasn’t communicating or managing my time properly, I would not be successful. There have been many times when we come back from an away trip, and I have to be awake at 6 a.m. the next day for a clinical. It can be overwhelming, and I’ve really had to learn how to take time for myself. Checking my schedule at least two weeks in advance and communicating with coaches and professors is crucial.”

Moffitt sees commonalities between her experience in team sports and nursing school, especially the importance of collaboration in high-pressure situations.

“Your goal when you play basketball is to win, and you can’t win by yourself,” Moffitt said. “You’re trying to reach a common goal, and that translates over to nursing with your coworkers and patients. You want to work with your teammates and coworkers to be successful. It sounds cliché, but there’s no ‘I’ in ‘team.’”

Moffitt appreciates the support she’s received from her coaches and School of Nursing faculty, and she believes that with dedication, other students can successfully pursue both athletics and nursing school.

“You can do both. I would not be able to pursue what I want on the court on and off the court if it weren’t for my professors,” Moffitt said. “They’ve met with me to walk through my schedule and are so helpful and want my success. On the coaching staff side, there’s a huge emphasis on education with the women’s basketball team, and my coaches want us to excel outside of basketball as well. They are more than willing to help me navigate my schedule and plan around, and it can be rare to find a program willing to do that.”

Moffitt is interested in pursuing a nursing role in pediatrics or the emergency department after graduating. While her focus will primarily be on nursing after she graduates, she hopes to still be involved in basketball in some capacity, whether as a coach or as a mentor to a student who also is balancing school and athletics.

“I feel like I will find my way back to school, probably to become a nurse practitioner,” Moffitt said. “I also want to travel nurse. I’m trying to take advantage of every opportunity while I’m here, and this is the best place to go for it and try different things.”

-Sarah Morgan Johnson and Pareasa Rahimi