玛丽恩 Nichols '22: EC Nursing a life-changing experience

For most of her life, 玛丽恩 Nichols ’22 knew she wanted to be a nurse. 她参观了几所大学, 但她一到EC, 参观了校园, reviewed the nursing school facilities and met the professors, she trusted this was the place for her.

"I looked at every other school possible but the nursing program here was like no other," she said.

Her time at EC broadened her horizons and gave her a new passion to pursue. When Nichols started at EC, she planned on being an emergency room or intensive care unit nurse. She had a great Boards of Cooperative Educational 服务 (BOCES) opportunity in high school that exposed her to clinical-like scenarios in those fields. However, after experiencing the pediatrics rotation at EC, she found a new passion – helping kids.

Although her experience was interrupted somewhat by remote learning, the faculty created an online learning environment that worked. They had online simulations and studied from real-life case studies. 起初, Nichols worried that she wouldn't be as prepared because she had to be remote for nearly a year due to the pandemic. But after she returned to campus and participated in clinicals, she put those fears to bed.

"This year showed me how much I actually know," she said. "Seeing all of these different cases in clinicals, I can see how much I learned over the past four years. 我知道我会成功的."

对尼克尔斯, starting the clinical experience in her sophomore year was pivotal in developing key, basic nursing skills as well as professional skills such as communication. 除此之外, she benefitted from the guided simulations held in EC's simulation labs with its high-fidelity mannequins Hal, 维多利亚, 和安迪. Her simulation team worked through intense scenarios and then watched their recordings and evaluated their performance, 寻找改进的方法. Beyond technical skills, Nichols feels well-prepared to network and interview. 在一个课程中, she heard from industry professionals, 包括社区护士, about building a nursing resume and they conducted mock interviews specific to the types of roles she's interested in.

整体, 埃尔迈拉大学's small class sizes, faculty-student relationships, and real-world applications drew Nichols to EC and has made her experience life-changing.