Prompt 5: Observing Community

Here at Michigan State University, the organizational club we have for nursing students is called the MSU Nursing Student Association. It's open to pre nursing and nursing students, and they currently have over 350 members, including myself. In the two meetings they've held so far, we've been exposed to many different volunteer programs, study abroad trips and have had guest speakers.

The President, Vice President and other members of the committee all present themselves as professionals- wearing professional wear and coming prepared with the topics to be discussed. When there was a career fair, where business professionals came to talk to students who were looking at future jobs, there was a wide emphasis on dress code. They implied that the wear was business professional-expecting girls to dress modestly and professionally, no jeans and no sweatpants. From this, I gained that the appearance is extremely important to this group.

If you are involved in this group, you have certain requirements to be considered and "active" member. Specifically for pre nursing students, its required that you attend two of the monthly meetings and gain two points, which are built off of volunteering. There are a wide variety of ways to volunteer, which included working in retirement homes, with children and at blood donations. It's clear that they are extremely involved in our community, and want to present themselves that way.

The main way of communication is emails and social media. They have both a Twitter and Facebook account, that you can follow and add to find out about meetings and events. I've mostly used D2L, a communication method at Michigan State, as a way to sign up for volunteer programs and recaps of the meetings.

Overall, the Nursing Student Association is extremely professional and dedicated towards the community. I feel as if it is a great thing for other nursing students and myself to be involved in, because of the opportunities they provide for you to be active in the community you live in. If you are at another college and also planning on going into the nursing field, look into finding a nursing association club to become involved in!

-Brooke B.