Bluefield State College and Princeton Community Hospital West Virginia Junior Nursing Academy Offers 7th and 8th Grade Students a “True Nursing Experience”
Bluefield, WV – This summer, seventh and eighth-grade students from Mercer, McDowell, and Monroe Counties with an interest in the nursing profession will have a chance to spend time working alongside real nurses in real hospital environments during the three-day West Virginia Junior Nursing Academy.
Students in the academy will attend classes on Bluefield State College’s campus and participate in simulated hospital experiences at Princeton Community Hospital
Sandra Wynn, MSN, RN, APRN, FNP-BC, is the Director of Associate Degree Nursing at Bluefield State College. Ms. Wynn and Bluefield State College are not new to this endeavor. BSC was a partner in the Southern West Virginia Nursing Academy that was held in Raleigh County last year. “We will continue to partner with the Southern WV Junior Nursing Academy in Raleigh County as well as add the Mercer County Academy to our summer activities,” she noted. “West Virginia has a growing nursing shortage. We feel this a great recruiting effort to prepare students to enter the nursing field upon graduation from high school.”
“Middle school is the age during which you want to catch student’s interested in a nursing career,” Wynn continued. “There are steps students can take in high school to prepare for acceptance into a nursing program as a college freshman. This program allows students to see what nursing is like in the real world, not the images they see in the media.”
The students in the academy will also interact with students currently in the nursing program at Bluefield State College, nursing professionals at Princeton Community Hospital, and Bluefield State College Nursing faculty. This enables students to direct their questions to individuals with the knowledge and understanding to guide them toward a successful nursing career.
The academy is free to students who are selected and includes three days of activities, including CPR certification. “The students will come out with a skill that may save a life one day,” Wynn noted. “The students are also provided scrubs and stethoscopes, in order for them to feel like they are members of the team. The students and families will participate in a graduation and pinning ceremony on the last day of the academy. These activities give them a feeling of what it would be like to be in nursing school.”
The nursing academy is a partnership between Bluefield State College and Princeton Community Hospital. The program receives a financial assistance as a grant from the West Virginia Center for Nursing.
To apply for the camp, students must be a currently enrolled seventh or eighth grader in Mercer, McDowell, or Monroe County. They must have a 3.0 GPA and must submit a brief essay on their interest in the nursing profession and why they want to attend the academy program. Applications will be available at all middle schools or they can be downloaded at https://bluefieldstate.edu/academics/schools/nursing-allied-health Academy spots are limited and all applications are due by April 1, 2019.
