Exploring Downtown Reno at Night

We were in sessions during most of our time at the Conference. We went to workshops on everything from tips to consider when choosing a school to earn your masters or Doctorate in Nursing Practice to increasing membership at your local SNA. The exhibit hall was filled with hospitals and nursing schools from all around the country. I got tons of information on orientation programs at different hospitals and information concerning admission and incentives for continuing my nursing education through various masters degree programs. It was not only a fruitful first traveling experience for me, but it was also a great learning experience as well. I was able to present myself professionally and hand out my business card to NSNA board members, and hospital exhibitors. The opportunities I got to meet and speak event speakers and National board members allowed me to network and make connections with people from all over the U.S.

After all the conference sessions on Saturday, our group of board members decided to go and check out downtown Reno. We all walked from our hotel, John Ascuago’s Nugget, to the bus station across the street, to catch bus 11 to downtown Reno. We entertained ourselves while we waited for the bus by taking funny pictures. When it arrived, we paid our $2 fairs and headed downtown. We decided to explore a little and then find a good place to eat for dinner. The lights from the hotels were awesome! Donna and I took so many pictures. I got my picture taken with the famous Reno sign in the background (one of my favorites). We walked all along the downtown Reno strip, making sure that we stayed together. I’m glad we had three guys in our group because downtown Reno didn’t look like a place you wanted to be at night by yourself. I’m also glad that we were in a big group; I would never venture out down there by myself. We finally decided to eat at a restaurant inside the Silver Legacy Hotel called the Smokin’ Gecko BBQ. (I felt safer when we were inside the hotels.) The food there was delicious. Tiffani and I split a pizza – half pepperoni and half pineapple and cheese. Neither of us normally orders pizza at restaurants, but as we were walking in to be seated we saw someone else’s order of pizza and decided to get it because it looked so good. And believe me it was!

On My Way to RENO, NV!

To bed at 1 am last night, up at 5 am this morning. I arrived at the Charlotte/Douglas airport by 7:30 am to catch my 9 am flight out to Reno, NV for the National Student Nurses Association Mid-Year Conference. My friend, Ariel, was graciously willing to drive me to the airport so I wouldn’t have to pay to park my car at the airport while I was gone. I was glad to get there an hour and a half before my flight left so I could have plenty of time to get my bag checked, get through security and to my gate. The lady at the ticket counter was nice enough to upgrade my seat to a window seat after I told her it was my first time flying since I was 12. I met up with Donna, the District II Director for NC, at the gate. We had the same flights and decided to be travel buddies. Donna told me that her number one rule was to never sit in the back of the plane (if she could help it). We went together to the service counter at the gate and she got our seats up graded to seats right behind 1st class! And, I still got my window seat. I took tons of great pictures of the view outside my window. Our connecting flight in Dallas, TX was delayed for almost 2 hours, so we had a chance to grab some lunch in the airport. We also met up with 4 of the other members on the NCANS Board of Directors who were taking the same flight in to Reno. After lunch, four gate changes, and a 30 minute wait later, we finally boarded our Boeing 757, 3hr flight to Reno, NV!

When we finally arrived at our hotel on Friday night, we had just enough time to get our bags into the room, change clothes and meet in the Rose Ballroom of our hotel, John Ascuaga’s Nugget Resort, for the Opening Ceremony and Keynote Speaker Event. The keynote speaker was Dr. Patrick Hickey, a clinical assistant professor at the University of South Carolina, College of Nursing in Columbia, SC. He is an experienced nurse and an avid mountain climber. In an effort to raise money for nursing scholarships, he became the first nurse to climb the world’s seven summits including Mt. Everest, Mount Kilimanjaro, and Mt. McKinley just to name a few. He performed all of these climbs and made it to the summit of each in spite of his extreme fear of heights!! He continues to teach nursing students, climb and travel around the world. His presentation was titled: “Conquering Your Own Everest: Do You Have What It Takes?” He related his experience of pushing to the top of each mountain despite his fear of height back to the challenges we face as students in nursing school. Nursing school is like our Everest and when we finally reach the top and graduate we will look back over our experience and know it was all worth it. He had a slide show presentation of pictures from his travels and summits. Hearing him tell of his experiences and instances where he used his nursing skill on climbs was fascinating to me. He kept the attention of the audience throughout the entire session and his presentation left me feeling inspired and motivated to continue on my track to the completion of my nursing degree.

10 DAYS

The countdown has begun. . . . . .

I fly out to Reno, Nevada for the National Student Nurses Association Convention in 10 DAYS!!

I can’t believe it is this close already! I’m very excited; I know it’s going to be a great experience. For the last couple days I have been getting all my flight information in order. I printed off my itinerary today. I will leave the Charlotte/Douglas airport on Thursday morning, land and switch planes in Dallas, TX, and then fly out to Reno. There’s just a twinge of apprehension though. I’m not afraid of flying - I’ve flown twice in my life, and I loved it. What I am a little anxious about is checking my bags in and getting through security. I want to make extra sure that I have everything packed right and that I have all my information in order. I would hate to get there and have forgotten something or miss my flight! What a nightmare……
But, I haven’t let those anxieties get the best of me. Tiffani, who is also going to Reno, flies all the time and she has agreed to help me pack my suitcase. That takes a load off my mind because she’ll be there to help me make sure I’m packing correctly. I am thrilled about this trip! This is my first trip to the western U.S. – I mean I’ll be crossing over three time zones! I’ve wanted to travel ever since I was 12 years old, so I’m looking forward to Reno being my first stop on an extensive list of travel destinations. I can’t wait!!

October Fest

Halloween is near! Every year Gardner-Webb puts on an event called October Fest. This is an event open to the kids and parents in the community to come and trick or treat in a safe, fun environment. This year it was on Thursday, October 30th – the day before Halloween.

For the past few weeks, the Student Nurses Association (SNA) has been hard at work planning the decorations and activities for our booth at October Fest. Our SNA booth at October Fest had a skeleton theme. There were two activities going on at our booth. At one end of the table, the kids got to “listen” to their own heart, lung, and bowel sounds with a stethoscope, and at the other end they got to play a game of “Pin the Bone on the Skeleton”. There was a great turn out at October Fest. We had hundreds of kids come by our booth and we had enough candy to feed an army! I really enjoyed working and talking with the kids. I loved seeing their eyes light up when they heard their own heartbeat or heard their own lung sounds for the first time. They loved playing around with the stethoscopes and a few kids even tried finding their parents heartbeats. Our “Pin the Bone on the Skeleton” game was a big hit too. We blind folded the kids, spun them around and let them blindly put the bone where they guessed it was supposed to go. And, of course they got loads of candy for participating. It was a lot of fun for the kids and for us! I’m very pleased that our first service learning activity for SNA went so well.