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| hope college > academic departments > nursing |
Hope Nursing NewsHope Student Wins Nursing Scholarship with Essay HOLLAND – Angela Sweers, a Hope College sophomore and nursing major from Williamston, has won one of only 10 scholarships nationwide in the 2008 "A Nurse I Am Scholarship Program" sponsored by Cherokee Uniforms. Selection is based on an essay written in response to the inspirational nurses film "A Nurse I Am." Entrants are asked to explain how viewing the film changed or enhanced their perception of nursing as a career and to use one of the nurses in the film as a role model in explaining why someone should purse nursing as a career. Scholarship winners each receive $2,000. "The winning essays were thoughtful, creative and represented students whose writing skills are exceptional," said Wendell Mobley, director of Cherokee's A Nurse I Am Film & Scholarship Program. "Cherokee Uniforms appreciates the hundreds of students who participated in this year's scholarship application process." Sweers was chosen for her essay "Nursing: A Career of Compassionate Heroism." In advocating for the career, she wrote, "Pursuing a nursing career can be synonymous with pursuing a career of heroism if all aspects of compassionate, holistic nursing care are met. Therefore, an individual who actively displays compassion, and has the desire to help others while encouraging them through some of the hardest circumstances of their lives, should consider pursuing nursing as a career." Her activities at Hope have included the Hope Student Nurses Association, the student-organized Dance Marathon fund-raiser for Helen DeVos Children's Hospital, the Special Events committee of the student Social Activities Committee and the College Chorus. She is the daughter of Michael and Janice Sweers of Williamston and a 2006 graduate of Dansville High School. Cherokee Uniforms is the leader in the design of fashionable scrubs for nurses and other health-care professionals. The company provided a grant for the production of "A Nurse I Am" as a film for nurses and nursing students out of concern over the number of nurses leaving the profession within the first few years of practice. In addition to Hope, the schools with winners in this year's scholarship program are Azusa Pacific University in Azusa, Calif.; the University of California-Los Angeles (UCLA); the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia; Anne Arundel Community College in Arnold, Md.; Coppin State University in Baltimore, Md.; Pensacola Christian College in Pensacola, Fla.; Davis & Elkins College in Elkins, W.Va.; and the University of Alabama in Huntsville. To read Angela's essay, please follow the link to the Cherokee Uniform, "A Nurse I Am" website. Chicago Semester internship nursing students
Dancing Past Dawn: Hope Student Nurses Association Does 24 Hours For the Kids Members of the Hope Student Nurses Association danced, moralled, and worked the Nurses Station all night long on March 7th-8th. An all time record amount of money was raised! Thanks to everyone who participated in this fun and worthwhile event. Nursing program applicants await Feb. 1 deadline As the month of January nears an end, a portion of Hope College students anxiously await Friday, Feb. 1 - some because it is one step closer to spring, and others because it is one step closer to their goal of eventually becoming registered nurses as Feb.1 is the deadline for applications into Hope's nursing program. However, for some, February may be a challenging month, since not all who apply to the program will be admitted. With approximately 50 applications for the Feb. 1 deadline, and only 36 spots available per academic year, Hope's nursing program is arguably one of the most competitive degree fields at the college. Since becoming a full-fledged program at Hope in 2002 after previously being a joint program with Calvin College, the nursing department has graduated many students who have gone onto highly sought positions in leading hospitals and top graduate nursing programs in the U.S. Dr. Susan Dunn, chair of the nursing department, believes that this, as well as the numerous applications, is a result of the quality of Hope's program. "The Hope College nursing program is gaining recognition as one of the best nursing programs available," Dunn said. "[Hope's nursing program offers] a challenging curriculum, exceptional nursing faculty, excellent clinical experiences and a unique focus on undergraduate nursing research." According to Dunn, for the past two years, there have been more applications than available spots to the Hope program, which follows a nationwide trend. Dunn attributes this to a shortage of Registered Nurses in the U.S., as well as the job prospects available to nurses. "This shortage is expected to continue if not worsen in the future due in part to the aging of our population and the increased healthcare needs associated with aging, and the anticipated retirement of 1/3 of our existing nurses over the next 10-15 years," Dunn said. "This translates to a wide open job market for college graduates who have pursued a nursing degree.There is a position available for any college graduate who is licensed as a registered nurse." Additionally, two other factors that have created an increase in interest in nursing are the flexibility and pay of nursing jobs. According to Dunn, there is often flexibility in hours, work settings and location, and the average salary for an RN is approximately $45,000. A nurse with a graduate-level education can expect to receive a higher salary. With an abundance of applicants to the nursing program and the nursing job market showing great promise, Dunn notes that there are plans in place to grow the nursing department. A proposal for expansion will be given to Hope in 2009, and from there it will need to be approved by the Michigan State Board of Nursing and Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education. For those students who do not gain admittance to the nursing department in February, there is another chance for application in October. However, for those students who are fortunate enough to gain acceptance to Hope's competitive nursing program, the effort is worth it. "Most practicing nurses will tell you that they are part of the best profession in the world," Dunn said. "I have loved every role I have had as a nurse, which have included jobs in critical care nursing, rehabilitation, research and teaching. In what other career are you assured that you will always have a job, and a job that you love?" Christmas 2007
Honors Convocation On Thursday, April 26, 2007, several students who are part of the Department of Nursing program at Hope College received special recognition for their achievements. Those students are:
AAUW Award Senior nursing student Adriene Green received the Association of University Women (AAUW) award. The AAUW award recognizes a Hope College non-traditional graduating senior woman who shows potential for contributing to the community in the four areas of AAUW interest: community, culture, education and international relations. To learn more about the AAUW organization, please see the following Web site: http://www.aauw.org/index.cfm. Kappa Epsilon Induction & Installation Ceremony 
Kappa Epsilon Chapter-At-Large held a joint induction and installation ceremony with Calvin College, Grand Valley State University, and Hope College Schools of Nursing on Monday, April 9, 2007, at Grand Valley's Loosemore Auditorium in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Receiving special recognition from Hope College were Hope faculty member Catherine Clarey-Sanford, MSN, RN, CWOCN, who received the Excellence in Education award and Hope student Ashley Bainbridge who received the Excellence in Student Performance award. New members from Hope College who were inducted into the Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society of Nursing included the following students:
Ashley Bainbridge We are proud of the accomplishments of these fine young women. We know they will serve humankind well as they graduate and take their next steps as a registered nurse. Student Receives Nursing Scholarship A committee composed of faculty and students appointed by the Foundation of the National Student Nurses' Association selected Kevin O'Brien (Hope '09) to be a recipient of the Promise of Nursing Michigan Scholarship. Kevin is one of two students in the state of Michigan to receive this scholarship. Funding for the Promise of Nursing Regional Scholarship Program is contributed by several hospitals and health-care agencies, by Johnson & Johnson, and by national companies with an interest in supporting nursing education. The Foundation of the NSNA is honoring the 2007 Promise of Nursing scholarship recipients during NSNA's 55th Annual Convention Awards Ceremony on Thursday, April 12, 2007, at 7:30 p.m. in Anaheim, California. Congratulations Kevin! 
2006 Christmas Luncheon - Faculty, staff, and student workers Students receive awards at Honor's Convocation 2006
Student Receives Nursing Scholarship
Student Receives Nursing Scholarship
To see how dramatic the impact of the new science center, one need travel no more than about 10 feet from the west staircase. There, on the first floor, begin the skills laboratory, resource room, meeting space and offices used by the department of nursing. It's a major change for the program, which was formerly squeezed into a remodelled house on the edge of campus. And nursing students clearly appreciate the difference the building is making in their education. "The biggest advantage of the new science building is the nursing skills lab," said Brad Norden, a senior from Grandville, Mich. "The new lab is full of state-of-the-art equipment and is laid out in such a way that students can practice their skills without tripping over each other. It is also nice that all of the faculty now have offices in the same building in which they teach. Accessibility to professors is important for students, and the new locale makes this much more convenient." "The new facility has given us more space and resources to accommodate the growing program here, and we have better and more current supplies in the new center," said Carrie Kurz, a junior from Westlake, Ohio. "I also think it integrates the nursing program into the rest of the sciences instead of completely separating it from the other disciplines." Such integration was a key consideration as the new science center was being designed, and not only for nursing but for all the other departments in the facility--biology, chemistry, the geological and environmental sciences and psychology. Professors have been grouped by general area of interest rather than department alone, and informal congregating space--headlined by the soaring, skylighted atrium--abounds. And it's working. "I see faculty interacting that I have never seen interact before," said Dr. James Gentile, who is dean for the natural sciences and the Kenneth G. Herrick Professor of Biology at Hope. "I've watched a physicist and a biologist and a chemist and a geologist sitting down and having a cup of coffee together in the atrium." "I've watched a chemist walk into a biologist's laboratory because they happen to be right next to one another and ask the most important question of all: 'How's it going? What's going on?,'" he said. "And those are exactly the kinds of things you want to see happen--the informal interactions. And if this building does nothing else, it really promotes the informality through which so much gets done and where new ideas are created." Perhaps especially because her department was for so long on the periphery of campus, Debra Sietsema, assistant professor of nursing and chairperson of the department, readily appreciates the possibilities in the arrangement. "I think we can interact so much more with the other departments," she said. "There's potential to do interdisciplinary research, both for students and faculty. We can also just share how information can be applied or how it can be built upon." "That interaction had to be much more purposeful when we were in the other building," Professor Sietsema said. "But now you can just walk down the hall." Nursing began at Hope in 1982 as a program offered jointly with Calvin College. The arrangement allowed the schools to share resources, but distance, differing schedules and other logistical challenges didn't always make it easy. The joint program graduated its final class last spring with each college having decided to go it alone. The new Hope-only program ran alongside the joint effort for two years. In keeping with Hope's research-based learning model, all students take a research practicum. The Hope program is emphasizing community outreach as students take placements with organizations and groups ranging from Holland Community Hospital, to local parish nurses, to Pine Rest and the Ottawa County Health Department. Off-campus study is another option--two students are currently studying nursing through the college's exchange program with the Autonomous University of Queretaro, Mexico. Students apply to enter the program, and demand is high, according to Professor Sietsema--36 students per year are accepted, and several more have indicated an interest. The first class will graduate this spring. Norden gives the department high marks. "The nursing program at Hope is outstanding," he said. "The faculty are well-trained, well-learned and well-prepared to teach the next generation of student nurses." "Most importantly, however, the nursing faculty nurtures our belief in holism, the care for not only the body, but the mind and spirit as well," he said. "This training and teaching combine to equip student nurses at Hope to excel in a broad spectrum of fields." The prospects are good for nursing graduates--the nation is experiencing a severe nursing shortage. However, it's the character of the Hope experience--academic excellence in combination with Christian perspective--rather than numbers that Professor Sietsema feels make the college's contribution to the field significant. "Hope has strengths in the natural sciences and in Christian education and thus has a unique opportunity to prepare individuals for lives of servant-leadership in the critical profession of nursing," she said. And now, thanks to those who have supported the "Legacies: A Vision of Hope" campaign, the college has the space to do it right. Postscript: And what of the former nursing house? The building is a prime example of how nothing goes to waste at Hope. Built as a private home, the two-story brick structure originally stood on College Avenue immediately north of the Peale Science Center, where it eventually housed the admissions office. It was hefted onto a trailer and moved to its current location on east 14th Street in the mid-1980s as part of the site preparation for the Van Wylen Library, at which point it began to serve nursing. In a way, the building has now come full circle. Admissions did its work so well this year that the college has enrolled a record-high 3,068 students. The 14th Street structure has helped ease the resultant housing crunch. It is now Pieters Cottage, home to 14 men. |
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