NCANS Mid-Year Conference - Wilmington, NC

This weekend was the North Carolina Association of Nursing Students (NCANS) Mid-Year Conference in Wilmington, NC. I, as the District I Director for NCANS, had been working with the other NCANS board members in planning and publicizing the event. Since this was an NCANS sponsored event, the NCANS board members were there to host and work the event.

Tiffani and I drove to Lincolnton early on Friday morning to meet up with another board member and rode with her the rest of the way to Wilmington. When we arrived in Wilmington, the weather was beautiful and it was in the 80’s the entire weekend! I had never been to Wilmington before, but I found that it was a place that I would like to visit again.

The event was held at the Hilton Wilmington Riverside Hotel. It was a hotel with character and nice amenities. Friday was a day for the students attending to arrive and check-in at the NCANS registration table. We had a board meeting after registration hours and discussed the plans for the next day. Saturday was the main conference day. A complimentary breakfast began at 7:30am and sessions/ workshops began at 8am.

I was designated as the photographer for the event and had a great time going around getting pictures and talking with students. Each board member was assigned to introduce the speaker of each of the sessions. I introduced a flight nurse from Pitt County Memorial Hospital who gave a presentation on being a flight nurse and explained how to apply for the flight team at Pitt Memorial. Their program even offers the opportunity for students to go out on observational flight experience with the flight team!

Our Penny War and Silent Auction fundraisers went great and I heard good comments about all the sessions/workshops. Overall, I think all the students in attendance had a great time at our NCANS conference. Saturday night was a free night for board members. Lynn, the NCANS treasurer, and I went out and took a walk out on the Riverwalk and went downtown to see what it had to offer. We all headed back home after the NCLEX review on Sunday.

I finally made it home late that night and enjoyed an awesome home-cooked meal with my parents. It felt great to finally be home and on Spring Break!! Check out www.ncans.org to see pictures I took from the Wilmington conference and get an update on conference highlights.