Match Day

Today was my first day as a nursing student in University of South Florida’s College of Nursing. After a painful two years of hard work to complete my prerequisites and months of worrying about where I’d be accepted into nursing school, my dream became so tangible and real today. As we took our verbal Promise of Professionalism and received both our CON name badge and our pin of excellence, I finally felt a sense of solidarity from the fact that I am part of a team who is working collaboratively to further the field of nursing by providing genuine care in people’s most desperate time of need. Today was momentous because we were introduced to our nursing faculty, our future daily schedule, our clinical site, our clinical teammates and tips about how to prepare for the intense journey we’re about to embark on. It was definitely an information-saturated day but my excitement has only increased since learning more about our amazing program.

When the morning began at 6:00 AM with carefully chosen professional outfits, we were excited, a little anxious, and ready to take the first step towards nursing school. As we arrived at USF’s CON, the tension in the air was dense with excited nerves among our 62 equally nervous student peers. It was like the first day of class in elementary school all over again- wondering who’s going to be your new best friend and if the teacher is secretly really mean (none of them are). As the day progressed though, we naturally began turning to the strangers sitting next to us and striking up small conversations. This process is so important because these strangers are about to become family.

In our morning session we all tore open the envelopes dutifully labeled with each of our names, and I silently rejoiced when I discovered I was place in a clinical site with my two closest friends in this program, at the best hospital in Florida! We received our most wanted choice out of all the hospitals possible! I literally cannot express how thankful I am to have the opportunity to learn from all my futures professors at such an amazing hospital, especially with my friends as teammates to all work together. As the afternoon dragged on, we were informed of all the supplies we need to buy, all the software we need to become familiar with, and all the reasons we’re about to go broke. We also nervously tried on scrubs to see which size of baggy pajamas we are privileged to wear to class every day.

Although this was only day one in my arduous journey of nursing school, I hope you feel a sense of excitement in knowing that this is also the beginning of my dream, and I want to share it with you. I feel overwhelmingly thankful that God has led me to this time in life where I’m eager to learn how I can serve him more fully, even if I don’t know how that will look quite yet. My heart desires to communicate both the joys and pains of being a student nurse, in hopes that you can find comfort and humor through this didactic narrative of my days.

Always, Melanie

Match Day: April 12, 2013

My sweet roommates and fellow nursing students