About 150 Nebraska nursing students, high school students and UNMC faculty and staff from across the state attended the recent 70th annual Nebraska State Student Nurses Association (NSSNA) Convention in Gering.
UNMC students received Community Service Awards, Certificates of Excellence and one student received the Board Member of the Year Award.
The conference featured keynote speaker Tracy Meyer, a flight nurse from Regional West Health Services in Scottsbluff, breakout sessions and 19 health care-related vendors ranging from local hospitals to the Mayo Clinic.
Breakout session topics were presented by UNMC faculty and staff including:
- critical care nursing by Barb Nickel;
- graduate nursing education and student support by Rolee Kelly;
- nurse practitioner nursing by Tiann Colwell;
- the future of nursing by Kelly Betts, Ed.D.; and
- a SIM-NE truck scenario training session by Kristin Johnson of SIM-NE and Kelsey Miller, a UNMC alum.
UNMC College of Nursing West Nebraska Division in Scottsbluff student, Shantel Lurz, former first vice president of the 2018 NSSNA board, was selected as Board Member of the Year.
“I was honored to be selected by my peers as Board Member of the Year,” said Lurz, who also was in charge of planning and hosting the convention. “The convention was a wonderful success considering all the odds that were against us that day.
“With several campuses having tests on Monday, rescheduled clinicals and the winter storm that affected travel, we still had a great turnout. I was pleased to have students, speakers, and vendors say they also felt the event was a success.”
UNMC nursing students elected to the 2019 NSSNA board of 12 include: Shayleen Behm, president; Jennifer Mansfield, treasurer; Hannah Harwager, secretary; Jenny Beckman, breakthrough chair; and MacKenzie Bowker, student advisor.
Certificates of Excellence for serving on the 2018 NSSNA board were presented to UNMC students: Molly Bloodgood, Shantel Lurz, MacKenzie Bowker, Dyllin Wegner, and UNMC nursing alums, Lindsay Pfankuch and Eli Rodriguez.
Gov. Pete Ricketts and Gering Mayor Tony Kaufman signed proclamations declaring the day as Nebraska State Student Nurses Day.
“Many thanks go to our nursing faculty and staff,” said Trina Aguirre, Ph.D., assistant professor in the UNMC College of Nursing West Nebraska Division in Scottsbluff. “We had a fantastic turnout and excellent leadership by our students, faculty and staff.”