Today I spent 2 hours in the morning researching about the neonatal nurse practitioner MSN, and coming up with questions that I wanted to ask during the webinar. I then joined a 1 hour webinar with Sarah Barsman, who is a NNP at CWRU. I was able to learn about this field in more depth, especially coming from someone with great experience. I then joined another zoom with a CWRU student who is graduating with his BSN, and has an OR job already lined up for him back in Pittsburgh. This Q&A allowed me to get a glimpse into all the hours, clinicals, and time management that goals into being a nursing major. I then went with Ms. Clyde for 2 hours to lunch to recap my project, talk about the highs and lows, and also ask her any final questions I still had. To end the day, I spent 2 hours incorporating this final information into my slideshow and script for my presentation tomorrow. 

I spent a couple hours writing my script for my presentation, and laid out what I was talking about on each slide. 

Today I was back at the Health Education Campus with Ms. Clyde. I joined her on some tours of the building for future nursing students, which allowed me to learn even more than I already had about the building. Later in the day, the lab simulation workers set up a high fidelity mannequin named Hal so I could see exactly what it does and get a taste of what labs with this advanced technology is like. 

Today I created my slideshow for my exhibition. I started to put together an outline for what is going on each slide while also writing down what I am going to say. 

I went with Ms. Clyde to MetroHealth to promote CWRU and all the different pathways they offer for pursuing education. Many people came up to our stand and talked to her about different options for getting an MSN or PhD. I enjoyed being in this setting surrounded by many different nurses, while also learning about how many people are interested in furthering their education while working as a nurse. 

Today I visited the Health Education Campus where my mentor works. We first joined zoom meeting with her boss for them to talk about certain MSN programs, and then Kennedy took me on a tour of the new building where many different nursing programs are housed. I then got to walk through numerous labs and see the low, medium, and high fidelity mannequins nursing students perform on. Lastly, Kennedy gave me a tour of Rainbow Babies and Childrens Hospital since I have become interested in that specific field of nursing. 

Today was the first day of my senior experience, and I met with Kennedy Clyde to schedule and talk more in depth about what I wanted to get out of this shadow experience. We scheduled dates and times while also exploring different specialties throughout the nursing field. I then spent some time researching different MSN majors, DNP elective sequences, and an overview of the PhD. I chose my few majors that I might be interested in after my RN license and will continue to research and learn more about them this week. 

28 February 2024

Kennedy Clyde

9501 Euclid Avenue, Cleveland, 44106

Dear Kennedy,

I hope this letter finds you well. My name is Katie Puletti, and I am a senior student at Gilmour Academy. I am writing to introduce myself as a participant in the senior project program and to seek your guidance and mentorship for my project. Throughout my academic journey, I have been passionate about going into the medical field as a future career because I have been inspired by my mom who has been working as a nurse for twenty-five years. These experiences have shaped my interest in the medical field and have inspired me to pursue further studies in nursing.

After careful consideration, I have decided to focus my senior project on exploring the field of nursing and the work that goes into it while majoring in college. My project pathway will explore the effort put into the major while gaining an understanding of the nursing major. I believe that this project will not only allow me to deepen my understanding of [mention your focus area] but will also equip me with the skills and knowledge necessary to achieve my future goals. My essential question for this project is: "What is it like to be a nursing student in college?"

In order to help answer my essential question, during my senior project experience from May 6th - May 14th, I would like to work on the following:

• 36 hours of shadowing you.

• 4 hours of researching the nursing profession/making a presentation 

To fulfill my requirements at Gilmour, please note that I need a mentor's approval of this plan. As my mentor, your verification of my 40-hour log will also be required once the experience has been completed. If you have questions or would like to make suggestions for adjustments, my email address is pulettik@gilmour.org. We will be using a website called Glave to administer this Senior Project. If you are willing to serve as my mentor, look for an email with the subject, Welcome to Glave. Once you click on the link from that email, you'll then set a password. After that, you will be taken to a dashboard page where you can accept the invitation to serve as my mentor. As I log time during my project, you'll receive additional emails asking you to validate the time. Please let me know if you run into any problems while using Glave, and if you prefer, we can confirm hours on paper in May.

Thank you so much for your time and willingness to work with me. I value your time and expertise, and I look forward to learning from you and working with you in May.

Sincerely,

Katie Puletti

pulettik@gilmour.org