SNA Club Series Interview

By: Emily Gaudet

Our newest feature in our club series is USJ’s Student Nursing Association! We sat down with Brooke Stevensen, current SNA president, and asked a few questions about the club and her experience within it. For any interest in joining or asking questions about the SNA, please contact [email protected] or add them on Blackboard Organizations. The SNA holds multiple events around campus every semester and is very easy to get into contact with! The following is the lovely interview held by Emily Gaudet and Abigail Hubbard with Brooke Stevensen!

Emily: All right, how or why do you choose to start the club? Did you start the club? 

Brooke: I joined the club. I joined my freshman year. They needed someone for social media, and I was like, you know what? I have the time. I love collaborating because it was with a co-e-board chair at the time. So I joined my freshman year on the e-board. I did co-social media chair with the same person for 2 years. It was great. I was vice president for my junior year, last year, and president this year. 

I joined just because I wanted more of a community of nursing students. And I feel like the club at the time wasn’t that. So I really wanted to help them rebuild because they were in their rebuilding year as the club had been sitting stale for a few years prior. We were just rebuilding after COVID. I really just love making sure everyone’s feeling supported. Like- if you’re having a hard time in this class, I can help you with this. If you can’t find your stethoscope and you need to borrow a stethoscope, someone’s got one. If you need a ride to clinical, let’s connect you with someone who’s going to the same place.

Emily: How’s the club going this semester? 

Brooke: It’s been going good! Crazy busy, very, very busy, but going really well. We’re having a lot of fundraisers this year. We’re in the process of trying to save money to send students who aren’t on the e-board to go to the National Student Association Convention. The past 2 years, we’ve been able to send the current president and future president. So we’re looking to do that again. It’s very expensive, unfortunately. We’re not like the state schools who get grants from the state. So even if we do apply for grants, it’s not going to be as much. I know Connecticut and Southern got to send 8 students and 4 students got half of everything paid for, and that was to Seattle last year. 

Emily: Where’s the convention this year? 

Brooke: It is in Houston, Texas. 

Emily: Okay, so, far. 

Brooke: Yes, it is rarely up here in the northeast just because I believe like New York, Pennsylvania, and maybe Massachusetts have strong chapters. We really don’t connect because we just started up a few years ago. The Connecticut National Student Nurse Association has not been very proactive last year or this year. So, it’s been hard, managing all the fundraisers. We’re trying to save our money to send students in the future, trying to save money for the pins and stoles at the end of the year. And also making sure students are getting events they want to go to. We try to include community service that our students want to do. We did the diaper drive this year and we didn’t hit our goal, but we donated quite a bit and we were very happy. 

Emily: That’s awesome! Okay, so, why is it important to have this club represented on campus? 

Brooke: It’s very important because nursing is hard. It’s a hard major. I know from my experience, it’s very isolating. I’ve had friendships that, for example, I haven’t even checked in with her in 6 months. I didn’t realize 6 months had gone by! So having a community of students who are going through the same thing is really important. And then also having a club where you could feel comfortable asking questions. 

Like, some of our students ask, “Hey, I can’t afford to buy this book. You had this class last year. Do you by chance have it?” or “We sit in class together, can we share it?” And so it helps with things like that. We’re always pushing students here to the library. The library usually has a book on hand and you can use it, but you just can’t leave with it. That is, if no one else in the club has the book before you. Some people just give them away or donate them at the end of their class. So I think it’s important just to build like that community, make sure people are feeling supported, nursing is a hard major. They weed you out quite a bit. So by having people that are there, going through it with you, hopefully instead of starting with a class of 120 and ending with like 60, we’ll have a lot more people stick in there. 

Emily: Okay, one last question. How do people join if they’re interested? 

Brooke: Good question! You could either add us on Blackboard organizations or you can email us at [email protected] and we’ll add it for you! We’re not like other clubs, you can join at any time! You might not get the, like, the points for the pins and stoles, but you could join it anytime. Events of community service are always open to nursing students and their friends! We have quite a bit of friends come and join us, especially at the s’mores night, and we just did a craft event night. It’s nice when people come and join. 

Emily: All right. Is there anything else you want to add? 

Brooke: No, thank you for having me!

Emily: Thank you!