The IUSB nursing community is mourning an incredible loss. 

Nursing professor LuAnn Woodrick tragically lost her life in a head-on crash Thursday.

“She’s the kind of nurse that I aspire to be,” said student Anita Barhona. 

Barhona and her classmates say Woodrick wasn’t just a teacher, she was a role model. 

Thursday, an unexpected tragedy struck when Woodrick was killed in an crash on US 12 in Berrien County.

“We were all in disbelief and just complete shock,” Shawna Rupert, another student said.

Since joining the IUSB faculty in 1988, Woodrick taught just about every single nursing student there. 

“She had these high standards but as able to teach them and enforce them in a very kind, loving manner,” Mario Oritz, dean of IUSB’s College of Health Sciences said. 

Woodrick was reportedly so loving that the nursing students say they think of her as family. 

“She’s like the mom of the nursing program,” Shawn Rupert, a student, said.

Woodrick luann has trained hundreds of nurses from across the country who now work in the healthcare field.

“She is with them in ways through their education, through their nursing,” Oritz said. 

Past and present nursing students plan to hold a vigil Tuesday in Woodrick’s honor.