“Nursing Faculty have provided the students with ample opportunities, connecting us with summer internship options, jobs for after college, studying tools, tips on how to build our resumes, and knowledge on different educational paths to take after college to further our careers as nurses.”
Emily’s passion for nursing has stemmed from a fascination with the problem-solving aspect of the field, combined with the rewarding feeling that she gets from being able to help people.
One of the things that she appreciates most about the Nursing Department, and about Gustavus as a whole, is the community-oriented atmosphere. Within the department, Emily has worked with her nursing cohort for her entire junior and senior years. She explains, “This enables us to make connections with people within the major to study, bounce ideas off of, or carpool to clinicals.”
The community aspect of the nursing program has also enabled Emily to have personal relationships with the nursing professors, who have helped her to pursue experiential learning off campus. Emily has been able to participate in two off-campus travel programs. For her Public Health clinical, she was able to travel to Utquiagvik as one of four senior students within the department selected to partake in this opportunity. For the month of October, Emily worked at the Wellness Center in Utquiagvik, Alaska, helping healthcare staff with well-child visits, home visits for immunizations, public health education, and school screenings. She says, “This was an incredible opportunity which allowed me to learn so much more about my future profession by letting me experience healthcare in a remote location in the United States and how their culture can directly have an impact on that.” In addition, Emily was able to set up a career exploration opportunity in Stockholm, Sweden, during which she was a part of pediatric asthma research at Karolinska Institutet. Of this experience, she says, “I was able to sit in on various meetings with AsthmaTuner and Mayo Clinic, help with literature reviews, and compile data to be inputted into an app that the research team was working on releasing.” Emily feels grateful to professor Lynnea Myers for helping her set up this opportunity, as well as for the entire nursing department faculty for helping her prepare for these opportunities, as well as for a future career.
In addition to her work within the Nursing Department, Emily is also involved on campus with the Gustavus Women’s Tennis Team, Pediatric Cancer Outreach Crew, HOSA, and the Gustavus Student Nurses’ Association.