Temo Guerrero, a 2025 graduate of the registered nursing program at Kankakee Community College, has been awarded the DAISY Award for Extraordinary Nursing Students.

The annual award is part of the DAISY Foundation’s mission to express gratitude to nurses with programs that recognize them for the extraordinary, compassionate and skillful care they provide patients and families.

Guerrero, a Kankakee resident, was nominated twice during his final semester as a KCC student. A committee at KCC chose him, and the award was presented Dec. 11 at the registered nursing pinning ceremony.

Guerrero received a certificate, a DAISY Award pin and a sculpture called “A Healer’s Touch,” which was hand-carved by artists of the Shona Tribe in Zimbabwe. Guerrero has accepted a position at Riverside Medical Center in the intensive care unit.

Two ICU nurses at Riverside, Christina Tsiamas and Elizabeth Martinez, submitted nominations.

At Riverside, Martinez served as a mentor to Guerrero.

“Temo was an amazing nursing student and did an amazing job with the patients within the ICU,” Martinez said in her nomination. “While Temo did an exceptional job of functioning in the critical care setting, the skill you cannot replicate is his human touch and compassion. Temo is an amazing student nurse and will, without a doubt, continue to impact many lives in the future.”

KCC’s two-year registered nursing program has a competitive entry process and accepts new students each fall and spring semester. It incorporates classroom lectures, clinical experiences and lab demonstrations.

The program is designed to prepare students for work in hospital departments, as well as in long-term care, home care, business and industry, outpatient clinics, public agencies, and physicians’ offices.