Kaitlyn Nice
I am attending Indiana University Indianapolis to pursue Nursing with a minor in Healthcare Administration. My future occupational dream is to work with Pediatrics, possibly with a cardiovascular specialization. I currently work at IU Methodist as a Patient Care Intern on the Cardiovascular Progressive Care Unit. I am also a IU Health Scholar Recipient, and will continue to pursue my future nursing career through IU Health.
I am a Chancellors' Scholar and a member of the Honors College. To get more involved I have stepped into the role of an Honors Peer Mentor for three years. I work one on one with undergraduate students to help better integrate them into the college experience and lifestyle.
Education
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IUI Experiences
One of the many assignments that we had in First Year Seminar (a class required for all freshmen) was to attend several events on campus here at IUPUI. Then we had to write a statement about what we did, learned, and what event we will attend next. This assignment was a great way, as a freshman, to get more involved. I also learned a lot of helpful information whether it was about IUI itself, my major nursing, or volunteer/job opportunities.
Honors Classes/Contracts
Freshman Fall 2022 Semester
Reading, Writing, & Inquiry Honors
Professor: Melvin Wininger
ENG W130
Reading, Writing, and Inquiry is an honors class, so the curriculum had the honors credit integrated into it. The class consisted of four projects. The first project contained three drafts over material that we had to read/watch. Project two was our midterm and the assignment was a reflection on everything that we had done in the class previously, like the three drafts in project one. In the third project we had to pick a specific point in one of our three drafts and expand on it within an essay. The third project was important in gathering information like articles, images, and podcasts to use in our five-page essay. Finally in project four we were assigned to write a paper, create a presentational piece (I created a scrapbook), and then write a reflection over the course.
OVERVIEW OF THE COURSE
Going into this class I was really nervous because I am not too fond of English class. After the first week, I slowly started to find many interests. In this class I had freedom in my writing and was able to add my own spin on things. I learned about myself both as a writer and a person. This class has been significant for me in growing as a person and establishing new interests, like free writing. Also, since I am introverted this class helped me branch out of my shell with the group projects.
WHAT DID I LEARN?
Freshman Spring 2023 Semester
Giving & Volunteering in America
Professor: Courtney Baugh
PHST P105
Giving and Volunteering in America is about looking through the world of philanthropy through different perspectives. I learned about the different traditions involved with philanthropy and also how to incorporate them into my own life through the projects that we did. One of the major assignments was a service-learning experience followed with a reflective essay about what we did and learned. Additionally, this is not an honors class, so I collaborated with my professor on a project that I could do.
OVERVIEW OF THE COURSE
In my Honors Contract, I focused on philanthropy in nursing. In the class we have a service-learning assignment where we are given the option to interview or volunteer at a non-profit organization. For the project I decided to do both and then talk about my learning experience through a presentation. In my presentation and talk with my professor over Zoom I first talked about my interview and volunteer work with the Ronald McDonald House (RMHC). I interviewed a non-profit leader from RMHC and I learned more about their mission and background. I also learned unique ways to incorporate philanthropy through talking to the non-profit leader. Next, I talked about a program called the "Grateful Patient and Family Programs" in order to show an example of how philanthropy is connected with nursing. Later I mentioned my personal connections with philanthropy while receiving my CNA license and I mentioned my unpaid clinical work. Lastly, I talked about the philanthropist Clara Barton. Overall I created a well-thought-out and successful presentation explaining how philanthropy impacts me as a nursing student.
HONORS CONTRACT
WHAT DID I LEARN?
Throughout this project I have learned more information about nursing, philanthropy, and most importantly myself. I have grown as a person in this class and have also strengthened my values. During my volunteer experience I gained a better understanding of places that I love to get involved with, like the Ronald McDonald House (RMHC). Volunteering instantly puts a smile on my face and makes me feel a lot better about myself because I get to help people and make their day. Secondly, I learned that volunteering is a great stress reliever for me because I am able to get the other things going on in my life off of my mind. Lastly, I learned more about how philanthropy ties in with nursing, which is my major. I used to have my CNA license and the clinical work was a great learning experience. I was able to apply what I learned into the classroom with the help of nurses if needed. I gained more knowledge about the importance of volunteering and participating in clinical work as a nursing student through my project.
Intro to Honors
Professor: Keith Naugle
Peer Mentor: Michaela Di Palmo
HON H200
I am passionate about positively impacting other people's lives by volunteering or just simply helping someone in need. I fulfill this passion by volunteering at Riley Children's Hospital and interacting with the patients and healthcare workers. I am a detail oriented, organized, academic driven women. I follow through with my goals and am a responsible, trustworthy friend and employee. I am a bookworm that loves to learn new things. I love to get involved in my community and within IUPUI, so balancing my priorities is something I have developed and am still improving on.
I AM STATEMENT
I want to get into nursing school, maintain a high GPA, and receive my Registered Nursing license by graduating college. After receiving my BSN, I plan on taking a gap year to gain valuable work experience. Next, I want to attend graduate school to receive my MSN and become a pediatric Nurse Practitioner. For my first couple years of employment, I want to participate in the traveling nurse program. Outside of the workplace, one of my life goals is to become a trustworthy and dependable role model. I want to have a loving, loyal family and become an attentive, understanding friend. Above and beyond all of my ambitions and dreams, I want to become a happy and motivated woman.
I WANT TO BECOME STATEMENT
REFLECTION
After writing my "I want to become" statement I felt like I had a better understanding of who I want to be and how I picture myself in the future. I got to think more about some of the goals that I have and how I can achieve them inside and outside of college. After writing my "I am" statement I realized that I need to give myself more credit for the things that I do. I think in the midst of everything I have going on with balancing school, work, and hanging out with friends and family I get lost and do not realize some of my accomplishments. I learned that I should be kinder to myself, to cherish the help I receive from others, and to also be more grateful for every opportunity that I have no matter how big or small it is.
GROUP PROJECT
During this class we also had to do a group project. We had to create a presentation for the class, my group chose to do a kahoot because we wanted to have a fun, engaging presentation. Each group had to teach the class about the certain bias that they chose from a wheel of choices given to us on a website. We then had to explain how our bias correlated with honors students and ways to help or fix this bias. My group chose the bandwagon bias, which is when someone has an original thought or action but then changes it because the common majority thinks differently. I personally suffer from this bias day to day so I learned a lot of tricks and tips on how to overcome this bias and resources that I can use to help me. It was also an interesting and fun learning experience to hear about how other people suffer from different bias's and how they manage it. Overall, this project was significant in helping me establish resources and different, effective ways to overcome certain biases.
Here is the link to the kahoot that my group and I presented!
HONORS CONTRACT AND ELEVATOR PITCH
One of the most important assignments for me in this class was when we had to create an Honors Contract and elevator pitch. An elevator pitch is a short and sweet speech to your professor asking if you can pursue an honors contract for their class. The honors contract assignment is a great way for students to become more comfortable writing contracts and it was also a way for us to receive feedback and suggestions on how to improve it. My professor and peer mentor attached honors contracts examples, which was extremely helpful. I was able to see what information the honors college wanted out of my contract and a couple of ways it could be formatted. Since the spring semester of my freshmen year was the first time that I had to complete an honors contract, this assignment was extremely significant. I learned useful information like how to properly write a contract, ways I can go about talking to my professor, and I was also able to receive feedback on how I can improve my honors contract.
Here is a link to the google doc that I submitted for the assignment.
Sophomore Fall 2023 Semester
Collaborative Practice
Professor: Tanya Coltrain
NURS B253
OVERVIEW OF THE COURSE
Collaborative Practice focuses on practicing communication skills. These skills incorporate self-awareness, team skills, technological and interpersonal communication. This course also introduces students to the roles of each healthcare team member, the scope and standards of nursing practice, and the components of professional practice. These are all maintained through leadership and ethical standards.
For my Honors Contract I went to the Voices of Healing discussion and then wrote a paper regarding the information I had attained. Ted Meyer, the speaker, used artwork to cope with his long hospital stays due to the continuous amount of pain he was in from Gaucher's disease. My day first consisted of looking through an Art Exhibition full of Ted Meyer's artwork and then ended with a discussion led by Ted. Ted talked about his artwork, Gaucher's disease, and the value of patient centered care.
HONORS CONTRACT
Through the Voices of Healing discussion and writing my paper I can take what I learned to help guide my practice as a Nursing student. First, I learned about Gaucher's disease, which I had never heard of until listening to Ted Meyer. I also learned the meaning and resemblance behind Ted's artwork and his health status. I was amazed by his talent and also loved listening to the stories he had connected to each one. Lastly, I gained more knowledge regarding the true meaning and impact behind patient centered care not only from what Ted stated but from the audience as well.
WHAT DID I LEARN?
Sophomore Spring 2024 Semester
Nursing Honors Colloquium
Professor: Celeste Phillips
NURS H498
OVERVIEW OF THE COURSE
This class is an introductory course for the Nursing Honors Program. Students learn about various research techniques, websites, PhD programs, and get to listen and ask questions to nurses with a doctorate in research. This class will also prepare students to complete a senior thesis.
This class sharpened my skills on researching and how to figure out if a website is credible or not. I learned about what is expected of me over the years to complete my Honors credits. I got to meet many guest speakers who conduct their own research and learned more about the PhD program.
WHAT DID I LEARN?
Junior Fall 2024 Semester
Nursing Honors Colloquium
Professor: Erika Biederman
NURS H498
OVERVIEW OF THE COURSE
During this class we focused on research regarding HPV and cervical cancer screening among the underserved populations. We worked on developing PICO questions, sifting through research articles, and we now have sections assigned to us that we are going to write in our final senior research paper.
WHAT DID I LEARN?
During this class I learned how to sift through research articles, what information to look for, how to rate an article, and practiced answering questions regarding the article as well. I feel more confident in my skills to read through research articles and find the valuable information.
Junior Spring 2025 Semester
Nursing Honors Internship
Professor: Erika Biederman
NURS H370
OVERVIEW OF THE COURSE
This course was set up to help each of us strengthen our skills and prepare us for the future senior research paper that we are going to write. We all collaborated together, analyzed real world articles about cervical cancer screening, strengthened my skills on finding research articles that fit all of our criteria: woman, in the US, cervical cancer self sampling, etc.
WHAT DID I LEARN?
I collaborated with my other classmates and we had to do peer reviews, sift through articles together, and create summaries. Our end goal is to work together in writing a senior research article, so we practiced how to collaborate and what roles each of us would have. We all were able to focus on dissecting our specific sections of articles to find out what we like or do not like about the article. This will be valuable in the future when we start to write the research article.