BOOM.

91% on my Capstone paper???

Don't mind if I do.

I will now dramatically throw away all of the research articles that I used to write it :)

Also, took the HESI exam today (predictor for the NCLEX, which is our licensing exam). Did I rock it? No. Do I care that much? Not really.

Still calling this day a WIN.

Teaching/Learning Project

Today my clinical group did our Teaching/Learning project at the Children's Center. We taught them about summer safety, including helmet use, hydration, water safety and sunscreen. I did all of the teaching with the kids and had fun seeing everyone :) Then we did four different stations for the different areas. We also got water bottles donated for each child and we got 10 bike helmets donated to the center. The kids really were into it and had a lot of fun. It went really well and I'm so glad that everything worked out! I'm also glad it's done. We still have to do a presentation on the project on August 2nd but we are mostly finished with it already! My group is very on top of things. It's wonderful.

The pictures above are of the front and back of the poster we used with the kids and one of us getting trained on how to properly fit bicycle helmets! :)

This is my now.

I know my blog updating skills have been horrible lately, but it's because the past few weeks have been absolutely crazy it seems. Since the last update I have had two LEI visits, finished my entire LEI binder and turned it in, finished and turned in my Capstone paper, learned how to get my RN license, applied for jobs, and had 6 more days of community health. Phew! A lot of happenings. Here's a quick summary to catch you up on some of things that have been going on lately!

The most notable thing in the past few weeks has been my CAPSTONE. My Capstone paper ended up being about 19 pages of fun, which I was still finishing the night before it was due. Typical. But I actually feel really good about it and I found out my clinical instructor is the one that got my paper to grade so I'm hoping I will do well on it since she has said she's a fairly easy grader. I will get it back a week from today so stay tuned for that! *Cross fingers* The capstone was the one really big thing standing between us and finishing school and it has been the sole source of everyone's never ending stress for the past 9 weeks. We are all so glad it's over. I have never felt more relieved to have something taken out of my hands as I did when I handed in that paper.

Community Health has been going pretty well. It's really boring and kind of frustrating because we never really know what's going on and it's all very flybytheseatofyourpants when we get there in the morning. It's okay though. I have been going on a lot of visits with my community health worker in the mornings and getting more involved in the teaching during those visits, but it's difficult since most of the people I see it is my first time meeting them so it's hard to build any kind of relationship. I also got to spend a day observing in the Tuberculosis clinic and another day observing in the STD clinic. Both of them were really cool experiences and I feel like I actually got something out of being there. In general though, I am not sure how much I am gaining from this rotation. I know that I am learning about the community and about resources that are available to those that can't otherwise afford them. I'm sure I'm getting more out of it than I realize. Tomorrow we are doing our Teaching/Learning project at the Children's Center, which I think I talked about earlier. But we are teaching the kids about summer safety, including water safety, hydration, bike and helmet safety and sunscreen use. It should be a good time, I'm excited to see my kids and for everyone in my group to meet them. I think they're kind of great :) We only have three more days of community health and then I am done with clinical forever. Crazy.

Last week we learned about how to get our LICENSE!!!!! It's kind of a big deal. We also learned how to send in our application for testing, get fingerprinted, background checked, etc. Pretty much everything we need to do to become real RN's. It was the most useful lecture we have had all semester. Sadly I'm not joking. So probably next week I will get that all filled out and sent in and then go and get my fingerprints and background check done! I also applied for JOBS today! I applied for a few at Spectrum for adult Med/Surg, about 5 at Helen Devos, one at Metro and one at Zeeland, so hopefully I will hear back from someone in the next few weeks. I hate the waiting game.

I am amazed at how fast this semester has started going. Starting about 3 weeks ago the semester just started FLYING by. We only have 16 days left. Two weeks from Friday we will take our last final. I feel like it's going so fast that I am forgetting to take the time to enjoy these last few weeks. These are the last few weeks that I will spend with all of my nursing friends. The last time I will be in the CHS building. The last time I will do so many things. So I am trying to take it all in and stop trying to wish it away. The photo is of my tattoo. It says "This is my now" and it is my reminder to myself to appreciate the moment that you are in because right now is all you have and it's the only "now" you will ever get. So my goal for the next two weeks is to enjoy every second of it and every second of my time with my friends. I can't believe 5 years of college ends in 2 weeks.