Honors Day Reflection
Throughout my four years in the honors program, I have had the opportunity to be involved in so many different experiences that I will never forget. As a McKearn fellow, I got to go on an alternative spring break volunteering in South Bend, Indiana right when COVID-19 hit the US. I recently traveled to Ireland over the summer for a study abroad experience to explore issues in healthcare in
Europe. These are a few of the incredible experiences I have had in the honors program that have impacted the way I see myself and how I see the world.
When I joined the honors program my freshman year, the additional in class projects seemed daunting. However, I now have come to appreciate the additional one on one time that I got to spend with my professors. This allowed me to make connections even as a freshman student and set me up for success in many ways. I learned how to be a professional while stumbling from adolescence into adulthood. I learned how to professionally communicate, conduct interviews, write research projects, network with my colleagues, and become involved in my community. I learned the importance of giving back to my community and seeing the world from other’s perspectives though cultural competency events and programs. My honors distinction has set me apart from my peers and has offered me opportunities such as becoming a community advisor in the dorms and obtaining funding for scholarships and my study abroad.
In my honors courses I also had the freedom to explore different topics in health care to help me decide which area of nursing I want to pursue in my career. I wrote research papers on factors contributing to high maternal mortality rates in the Unites States, how nutrition can affect cancer risk, and finally for my capstone, the effects of the pandemic on nursing burnout and methods to prevent turnover and moral distress that pandemic nurses face. This has provided me with additional knowledge that will inform my education and once I graduate, my nursing practice. This honors program has not just enriched me academically, but also personally and professionally and I am so grateful to all my professors and mentors who have guided me to where I am today. I am so proud to be graduating from the NIU honors program and I cannot wait to utilize all of the knowledge, experience, and skills I have gained in this program in my practice as a nurse.
