This Thursday, Sept. 24, the School of Nursing is hosting a virtual open house for pre-med students and students interested in joining the pre-med program. The event will be held via Zoom at 11 a.m. and 7 p.m. Students who have not received the link in their email can find the zoom links for each time at the end of this article.
The purpose of the open house meeting is to build stronger connections with the students who are new to the program and incoming freshmen. It also serves to answer questions that students may have, according to Dr. Katherine Menard, a faculty member in the school of nursing, associate professor and BSM program coordinator.
“It makes us sad to hear that our freshmen that arrived on campus are feeling disconnected. We really hope that if people don’t have any questions they just jump on so they can meet a couple of faculty members and increase the feeling of connection that they have,” Menard said. “We know that campus looks a lot different this semester. We’ve been hearing from the Dean of Students Office and Academic Career Advisement Center that students are feeling disconnected from faculty they didn’t know previously, so we decided to try a few zooms and try to establish some connections with the students that aren’t yet in our program,” Menard said.
Students don’t have to be in the pre-med program to join the open house. Menard encourages all students who are interested in nursing to join. For those who may not be aware of the structure of NMU’s nursing program, Menard shares some insight on how the program operates.
“Students who are interested in nursing when they come to Northern typically take three semesters of prereq courses and when they’re in that final semester of prerequisites, so usually their first semester of their sophomore year, they apply to the nursing program and hopefully gain acceptance at that time. We take the top 40 students every fall and every winter, so we admit 80 students a year; 40 in the fall, 40 in the winter. During that first year, students are taking prereqs like anatomy and physiology, chemistry, psychology, those sorts of courses. Then they are typically admitted into the nursing program and start taking courses in the second half of their sophomore year, or in their junior year,” Menard said.
Students can also learn more about the NMU Nursing program and how to prepare themselves when applying for the program by attending the open house, according to Menard.
COVID-19 has proved to be a challenge for the School of Nursing, and while it has limited their ability to interact with new students, this meeting offers students a chance to discuss with students who are already in the program, and faculty members like Menard and Dr. Kristi Robinia, the Associate Dean of Nursing. Because of COVID-19, the education of future medical professionals is paramount.
“We need nurses now more than ever. We in the nursing program love connecting with our students and having close relationships with our students,” Menard said.
Information about the Nursing program can be found here: https://www.nmu.edu/nursing/sites/DrupalNursing/files/UserFiles/Files/BSN/BSN_Info_Packet.pdf
Application information can be found at https://www.nmu.edu/nursing/applications
The Zoom meeting links for the Open House can be found below:
Thursday, 9/24 at 11 a.m. – https://nmu.zoom.us/j/98395151033 (Password: nursing)
Thursday, 9/24 at 7 p.m. – https://nmu.zoom.us/j/93323706521 (Password: nursing)
