Incoming Vanderbilt University School of Nursing students enjoy the sunny weather during Monday’s picnic. With 301 new students, this year’s class is the largest in the school’s history.
Photo by Susan Urmy
Back to School '06: Nursing school’s incoming class eager to serve
Dean Colleen Conway-Welch, Ph.D., right, and Hilary Poag, an R.N. who is enrolled in VUSN’s acute care nurse practitioner program, at this week’s orientation.
Photo by Anne Rayner
From left, VUSN students Windle Morgan, Marlo Kemp and David Workman, chat at Monday’s picnic.
Photo by Susan Urmy
The Vanderbilt University School of Nursing welcomed its largest class ever — 305 new students — this week for orientation activities and the start of the fall semester.
Colleen Conway-Welch, Ph.D., Dean of VUSN, greeted students at the opening of orientation activities, along with University Chancellor Gordon Gee.
“The opportunities for advanced practice nurses are phenomenal, and you are coming into an environment with lots of opportunity,” Conway-Welch told students. She noted that less than 10 percent of nurses hold their master's degrees.
The incoming class includes 140 non-nurses who are participating in VUSN's Bridge program; 135 students with B.S.N. degrees who are pursuing M.S.N. degrees; 18 registered nurses, several of whom are from VUMC; and 12 post-master's students. This class has an average GPA of 3.40. Each student brings different experiences to enrich the learning environment at VUSN.
Lauren Haak has lived abroad, speaks multiple languages and has done extensive international travel through various missions. She comes to VUSN with her B.S.N. from Harding University in Arkansas, and is a scholarship recipient. She's pursuing her women's health and adult nurse practitioner joint specialty because she's wants to offer a wide scope of health care.
“International experience has really opened my eyes to see things from a different perspective,” said Haak. “It's not that I just traveled there. I lived there and think it will help me be very flexible and open to what I can offer patients.”
On a recent mission trip to Chimala Mission Hospital in Tanzania, she was very involved in delivering care. Working with a certified nurse midwife, she and several other undergraduates provided a wide variety of care in rural areas throughout the country. The team gave immunizations and prenatal care, but Haak's proudest achievement was delivering five babies.
“Throughout undergrad I was exposed to a lot but couldn't really connect to all of it,” said Haak. “I'm most excited about starting at VUSN so I can finally get to start something that I've always wanted to do.”
Eric Graeflin, a non-nurse entering VUSN's Bridge program, has already accomplished a lot of things in his 26 years.
Friends, family members and his mentor each guided him to his career choice of pursuing the family nurse practitioner specialty at VUSN.
Not too long ago, Graeflin took five months to hike the 2,173-mile long Appalachian Trail with some friends, a self-defining experience that has set the stage for taking on other challenges in his life. He recalls that four weeks into the hike he questioned whether he wanted to continue. He also remembers a two-week period that he hiked alone and truly understood the concept of self-reliance.
He sees a lot of comparisons between hiking the trail and starting at VUSN, and expects to learn more as he delves into his education.
“In my mind, attending VUSN is a huge undertaking just like the trail was,” said Gaeflin. “By me finishing the trail and not giving up, it gives me confidence that when the going gets tough, I can keep going.”
As he starts his VUSN education, he plans on “giving it his all,” and hopes to grow in character from interacting with patients, faculty and his fellow students.
Jackson, Miss., native Joi Sawyer left her position as a diversity coordinator for HCA in Nashville to go full-time into VUSN's nursing program. Although she has an undergraduate degree in biology and a master's in public health, she felt strongly that she needed more education to fulfill her goal of serving the community.
“I believe our purpose in life is to serve others, and I want to serve the underserved population,” said Sawyer.
“As an African-American nurse, I hope to be an example to others.”
She's surrounded by a care-driven family. Her mother is a teacher and her aunt is a social worker, and they engrained in her the need to help others.
Her rural upbringing and the need for health education and preventive health care is making her consider going back to her hometown once she finishes the program.
She expects a heavy load as she pursues her family nurse practitioner education and can't wait to work with patients in a clinical setting.
She plans on focusing on the big picture to help her work through any future challenges in the program.
Although Sawyer earned a scholarship that offsets a substantial portion of the tuition, she said, “I would have done anything or moved from anywhere to attend Vanderbilt University School of Nursing.”