MGH Institute Nursing Student to Cheer on Patriots at Super Bowl

MGH Institute of Health Professions nursing student Jennifer Pinto is heading to the 2017 Super Bowl as a member of the New England Patriots' cheerleading squad.

"I'm so excited about this experience," says Pinto, who is in her first year in the nurse practitioner program at the Charlestown graduate school.

Twice a week during the 2016 football season, she travelled to Gillette Stadium in Foxborough to participate in three-hour practices with her teammates. Her duties didn’t end there, as squad made dozens of appearances at charity fundraisers and other events during which she interacts with fans—which she says has helped her communication skills as a nursing student.

Juggling her schoolwork and cheering duties can be a challenge, she admits, especially when games are played outside the traditional Sunday afternoon times. Take the Monday night contest in December against the Baltimore Ravens. The game finished close to midnight, meaning she didn’t get back to her South Boston apartment until nearly 2 a.m.—and then had to be back on campus for a 9 a.m. exam.

“Being a cheerleader actually helps me prioritize things to make sure I set aside enough time to study,” says Pinto, who in 2015 earned a health policy degree from Providence College. “I wasn’t sure if I could cheer as well as succeed in the nursing program, but it’s worked out great.”

Pinto grew up in Rhode Island a Patriots fan, and her father has had season tickets for the past decade. She’s been a dancer since she was young, and became so good that she was chosen to be on the cheerleading team at Providence, supporting the men’s and women’s basketball teams. After spending a year following graduation with the WNBA’s Connecticut Sun, she gained the confidence to shoot for the pinnacle of her craft—the National Football League. But because of the intense competition to be part of arguably America’s most successful football team, it took her three attempts to make the Patriots squad.

While she hopes to have her one-year contract extended next year so she can participate in the team’s annual drive toward the Super Bowl, it’s the sound of grateful patients and supportive faculty rather than cheering fans that keeps her focused on earning her degree in 2020 and fulfilling her goal to start her own practice one day.

“Because of what I learned for my health policy degree, I feel long-term care is my niche,” says Pinto, who is in the adult-gerontology primary care track. “I want to get to know patients over time so I can help them live healthier lives. I know that being at the IHP is where I can learn what I need to accomplish that. It’s where I belong.”

And remember that nursing test she took on a few hours sleep? She was as successful as Tom Brady throwing a game-winning touchdown pass to Rob Gronkowski.