#Get Involved

Back this week with another #advicetobabynursingstudents post... this time it's all about getting involved! I was given this advice by a professor my first year of nursing school, and I really think it guided me well through all four years. Without this advice, I think that my focus may have been a little off, but it steered me on the right path and helped me get to where I am right now:

Be involved in school activities, especially those pertaining to nursing. Whether it's a social or academic activity, get involved and meet new people!

Activities look good on resumes, it's as simple as that. Although there are more benefits to getting involved in school, resume building is a major one. When I started nursing school my freshman year, I was nervous to get involved with anything. I was nervous to meet new people, and doing things on my own just sounded better. That is, it sounded better until I had to create a resume and had barely any school activities to include on it.

Looking around, there were other people like me, but there were also students who had a long list of school activities after only a semester of school. I decided then that I would take it upon myself to join at least one activity, specifically one pertaining to nursing.

At my school, there were actually a few organizations you could join as a nursing student. There was the school's nursing association, a nursing fraternity, and a few other service-centered nursing groups. I decided to pledge the nursing fraternity my sophomore year with a few of my friends. Some of my friends were already in it, and they seemed to enjoy it.

I'm so glad I joined. Because there were meetings every week, I was forced to take responsibility and have my work done. It helped me to be more focused in school. As a sophomore, there were also older nursing students that could answer any questions we had about future years in school. It was a great resource for me, and I was able to make a lot of new friends through the program.

As I got older, I became the one who was able to give advice. It felt good to help someone younger, and I definitely felt a sense of purpose in the school of nursing. We did service events, but we also had some social events that allowed us to have fun when we were all stressed about school.

Whatever you choose to involve yourself in doesn't matter, as long as you get involved. There are so many benefits to it, and you become a more recognizable person in a large campus. And again, these activities look great on a resume. And if you're not on a large campus with a lot of activities, or you commute, you can check out the National Student Nurses Association's to become involved on your own!