Gator Nurse Graduate is Third Sister to Attend UF College of Nursing

Sisters Jordan Smith, Sarah Baltes and Jenna Van Ryhn all graduated from the University of Florida College of Nursing. Baltes, center, is the latest to graduate.
Sisters Jordan Smith, Sarah Baltes and Jenna Van Ryhn all graduated from the University of Florida College of Nursing. Baltes, center, is the latest to graduate.

As a girl, Sarah Baltes remembers playing with medical equipment in the UF College of Nursing simulation lab during family visits to her two older sisters.

On Friday, Baltes joins her sisters as a fellow Gator Nurse graduate and makes it a trifecta for the family from Stuart. 

Jenna Van Rhyn (Gallas), who graduated in 2017, is excited to welcome her little sister into nursing.

“It’s really special. UF has been a big part of all of our lives. We have shared similar memories. We have walked in the same footsteps. We are all passionate about the profession. It’s great that we all share that,” said Jenna, now a nurse practitioner at the Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa.

But Jordan Smith (Gallas) started the trend after graduating in 2014.

“It’s cool that they both also followed suit. Jenna was kind of on the fence about nursing at first. I may have helped convince her a little. Sarah has seen how much we have loved nursing, and it inspired her,” said Jordan, now a nurse anesthetist at St. Anthony’s Hospital in St. Petersburg.

Sarah said her sisters, who are 10 and eight years older, greatly influenced her.

Sarah Baltes, left, listens to her younger sister's heart during a 2014 visit to the UF College of Nursing Simulation Lab. Ten years later Baltes joined her two older sisters as Gator Nurse graduates.
Sarah Baltes, left, listens to her younger sister’s heart during a 2014 visit to the UF College of Nursing simulation lab. Ten years later, Baltes joined her two older sisters as Gator Nurse graduates.

“I decided I wanted to be a nurse when I was 12,” she said. “I remember hearing them talk about what they had seen and done. It fascinated me. Even before my sisters became nurses, I was always fascinated by the medical field. As a little girl, when I went to the doctor to get shots, I always asked questions.”

Like her family, Sarah grew up a Gator fan, and once she decided to become a nurse, there could be no other college but UF.

“Sarah worked hard to get into UF. They all did. I am super proud of them all. They learned hard work, and they learned to give back. They are just great human beings. I think that’s awesome,” said Kristen Baltes, the girls’ mother.

Sarah recently accepted a position at UF Health Shands in the Thoracic & Lung Transplant Intensive Care Unit.

“That’s where I’ll be as a night shift RN,” she said. “I did a clinical rotation in the ICU, and I absolutely loved the culture there and loved the patients.”

She is also preparing to transition from UF student to Gainesville resident, but she is ready.

“Right now, I live in sorority row. I’ve been a student here for four years. The transition will be a little weird,” she said. “There’s going to be some adjustment. I got to figure out where the locals hang out.”

Sarah wants to specialize, like her sisters, but not yet.

“I want to take a break from school right now and just enjoy being an RN for a while before I decide what to do,” she said.

Her sisters say they will help with advice when the time comes, but now, they can’t wait to shop for work supplies.

“We need to get her some nursing things, scrubs and jackets. She can graduate from her nursing school scrubs and get her own things,” Jenna said. “It’s all very cool.”