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Campus Review
January 23, 2012
Clayton State Plans Alternative Spring Break
School of Nursing Schedules
Two Pre-Nursing Information Sessions in February
by Erin Fender, University Relations
The Clayton State University Alternative
Spring Break Volunteer Program is an
opportunity for students to engage in
community-based service projects for one
week during the University’s designated
spring break vacation.
This year, the Alternative Spring Break
Volunteer Trip will take place from Mar. 4
to Mar. 9, at the Pine Ridge Indian
Reservation in South Dakota. Students
will work with RE-MEMBER, a non-
profit organization that seeks to improve
the quality of reservation life of the
Oglala Lakota Nation through relation-
ships, shared resources and volunteer
services. This program follows in the
footsteps of the June 2011 immersion trip
to the same reservation, led Associate
Dean of the Clayton State University
College of Health Dr. Sue Odom, along
with Associate Professor Dr. Jennell
Charles. That trip included five students
from the Clayton State School of Nursing
and included students participating in
seminars led by members of the Lakota
Tribe, making home visits with public
health nurses, doing rotations in acute
care and outpatient facilities, and partici-
pating in local field trips which included
trips to the Badlands National Park, the
Black Hills, Mt. Rushmore, Wounded
Knee, and Crazy Horse Memorial.
The Alternative Spring Break Volunteer
Program will see Clayton State students
participating in various work projects
across the Reservation, including building
bunk beds for children, installing “skirt-
ing” around mobile homes, outhouse con-
struction and helping to build basic shel-
ters. Additional information about Re-mem-
ber can be found at www.re-member.org or
their Facebook page ReMemberRez.
“These service trips allow students to
develop a deeper understanding and
appreciation of the issues affecting people
across the world daily,” says LaShanda
Hardin of the Clayton State Department
of Campus Life. “Our goal is to have stu-
dents come away from the experience
with a deeper understanding of communi-
ty service, social activism, cultural under-
standing and the desire create change both
close to home and across the world.”
To learn more, contact (678) 466-5424 or
lashandahardin@clayton.edu.
Clayton State University’s School of
Nursing (SoN) will be holding its lat-
est IN! (Into Nursing) Pre-Nursing
Information Sessions on Monday,
Feb. 20, from 5 p.m. until 6 p.m., and
Thursday, Feb. 23, from 11:30 a.m.
until 12:30 p.m. The Monday session
will be held in room B-11 of the
Lecture Hall. The Thursday session
will be in room UC272 of the James
M. Baker University Center.
The purpose of the Into Nursing infor-
mation sessions is to provide pre-nurs-
ing students with important informa-
tion about resources that are available
to help them plan for a career in nurs-
ing. Strategies will be discussed
regarding how to successfully prepare
yourself for the application process
and how to be successful once you are
admitted to a nursing program.
The informational sessions are con-
ducted during the fall and spring
semesters by Clayton State’s Nursing
Workforce Diversity grant team and
the advisors in the School of Nursing.
These informational sessions will be open to
high school students, university students,
parents and university faculty and staff
In 2010, SoN was selected to receive a
$1,089,000 Nursing Workforce Diversity
(NWD) program grant from the
Department of Health and Human
Services Health Resources and Services
Administration over the next three years.
This grant will also pay for a mentoring pro-
gram which will involve pairing faculty and
students. In addition, students will have
opportunities to apply for academic scholar-
ships and stipends, NCLEX board of nursing
reviews, and paid positions as peer tutors.
The ultimate goal for this grant is to
increase the diversity of the nursing work-
force through 1) pre-entry preparation, 2)
retention of current students enrolled in
the SON and 3) cultural competence of
students and faculty. A special emphasis is
placed with this grant on the recruitment
of Hispanic students.
In 2011, SoN received a $750,409
advanced nursing education grant
from the Division of Nursing within
Health
Resources
Services
Administration (HRSA). The grant, to
support graduate nursing education at
Clayton State, runs through 2014.
“This grant will support a significant
increase in enrollment in the RN-MSN
program and includes strategies, such as
faculty-student mentoring to support stu-
dent retention. Faculty and students will
be paired based upon common practice
and scholarship interests,” says
Associate Professor and Project Director
Dr. Jennell Charles.
The grant will create an accelerated
program, allowing students to move
through the RN-MSN program in just
six semesters. There will also be
strategies to increase service learning
opportunities with emphasis on reduc-
ing health disparities.