Courtney, a junior at Auburn University is majoring in Nursing.
 Twice a week Courtney attends cliniclas, where she is able to get first hand experience as a nurse.
 The clinicals have helped Courtney gauge her future career and decide where she would like to specialize.
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L
ayne Poundstone never thought she would see the day when one of the academic requirements for her nursing classes was to blog. She hadn’t even heard of blogging, let alone be able to do it. “When our professor gave us the assignment to blog every week I automatically thought, why are we doing this and what in the world is a blog?” After receiving an explanation and actually testing the waters of online social media, Poundstone has now come to realize the relevance of blogging and it’s usefulness in her major. To her it’s a way of interacting with others in her field of study and finding out their opinions on similar topics of interest.
Poundstone currently blogs for two classes, her Nursing Leadership class and her Labor and Delivery class. In her Nursing Leadership class, her professor provides the students with a weekly a topic which they then conduct research on and write a blog about their findings. For her Labor and Delivery class, Poundstone usually blogs about experiences she has had that week during her hospital visits with specific patients or just making rounds.
When asked about her thoughts on blogging, now that she has been able to fully understand what blogging involves, she states, “I keep on hearing that social media is the way of the future, so I am glad that I have had the opportuity to be exposed to it.” Poundstone is unsure of whether or not she will blog once she graduates and begins her nursing career, but either way, she now has a good idea of what social media is all about.
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Katie Martin, a senior at Auburn University majoring in nursing, says that she is grateful for the amount of real life experience that she has received in her classes. Nursing students are constantly busy whether they are in class or clinical.
Katie says that she has been fortunate to receive experience in every facet of nursing. By doing this, she has found parts of nursing that she is passionate about, and may want to pursue further. She greatly enjoys the area of labor and delivery, and plans to pursue this area in the future. Nursing students not only gain experience in different areas of nursing, but also in different hospitals throughout Alabama and Georgia.
Katie explains that the nursing major is highly demanding, but that it is easy to work hard for something that inspires you. Katie has grown up admiring nurses considering that her mother is one. Because of her, Katie decided to explore nursing as her profession. She has since not been disappointed.
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Kathryn Clark is a junior at Auburn University majoring in nursing. However, her career path is unlike most of the other nursing students on campus. Clark currently serves in Auburn’s Air Force ROTC. She plans to use her degree to become a flight nurse in the Air Force.
Clark is part of a family tradition of serving our country. Both of her parents served the United States in the Air Force and Clark has decided to follow suit. While Clark commits multiple days a week to physical training and classes for ROTC she has also dedicated herself to other activities on campus. In 2006 Clark helped start a pro-life club on Auburn’s campus. Her dedication and passion for important issues is contagious and has enabled her club to grow.
Clark attributes much of what she has learned thus far in college to ROTC. Through learning time-management and organizational skills Clark has been able to get involved, take on leadership roles and maintain an outstanding academic record.
Clark has devoted four years of service to the Air Force after she earns her degree. During these four years she will most likely be deployed to either Iraq or Afghanistan. But Clark is not afraid. She says she strongly believes in giving back to the United States. “The reason why I do all of this is because I want to serve those that serve our country,� Clark says.
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Auburn’s competitive nursing program gives its students’ many opportunities to prepare themselves for the real world. The students are put in real life situations at various hospitals around Alabama. They are required to spend many hours in various specializations such as Med-Surge (Medical/Surgical), Labor and Delivery, Psychiatric, Critical Care, and Pediatrics.
Ashley Boon, a fourth semester nursing student, was admitted into the program last August. She is expected to graduate in May 2008. As far as after graduation plans, Boon isn’t sure, but she said she might attend the University of Alabama at Birmingham for Nurse Practitioner School. She is currently attending clinicals at East Alabama Medical Center in the Psychiatric and Labor and Delivery units.
In the video, she talks about life as a nursing student and her aspirations for her future. Although she works long hours and has had many sleepless nights, Boon remains upbeat about her remaining time at Auburn University. She discusses her favorite parts about clinicals, the program, and the most exciting surgery or procedure she has ever witnessed. Her insight to the nursing program is quite a treat as well as the opportunity to meet her pet pig, Melvin.
Boon has gained such wonderful experience during her time at Auburn. She is sure she will continue to learn many wonderful things in the future. With Auburn’s outstanding nursing program and Boon’s dedicated, hardworking personality she is destined for success.
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