Nursing students apply Laker for Lifetime values to profession

Students in a Kirkhof College of Nursing class are learning to apply the values behind the Laker for a Lifetime initiative into what will be their profession.

Joy Washburn, associate professor of nursing, designed group activities for students in her Professional Nursing class that asks them to define what it means to be a Laker Nurse for a Lifetime. Professional Nursing is the first course students take in the undergraduate nursing curriculum.

"It is incredibly important for our nursing students to consider what it means to be a Laker nurse," Washburn said. "By asking students to describe how they want to be seen in the workplace, the importance of professionalism becomes very clear."

Washburn asked her students on November 18 to come up with words related to nursing for each letter in "Laker." Students in Ally Erickson's group decided on leader, advocate, knowledgeable, effective and responsible.

Erickson, a junior, said the exercise helped her better understand the Laker for a Lifetime initiative and the significance of the nursing profession.

"It makes you realize what attributes you want to have when you begin working in the field," she said.

At the end of class, the whiteboard was filled with words provided by the students. Washburn plans to carry the Laker Nurse for a Lifetime theme throughout the courses she teaches.