End-of-the-Year Celebration for Nursing Student Organization

By Vickie Lee-Her

Graduates of Metropolitan State University’s nursing programs will be honored with a special treat when professional actress Pippa White performs at the annual End-of-the-Year Celebration, sponsored by the Nursing Student Organization (NSO), on April 22. The performance will narrate the lives of people who changed the nursing profession and health care.

The End-of-the-Year Celebration is just one of many events the NSO puts on yearly. Aimed at bringing nursing students together to support a positive school experience, the NSO also sponsors new student orientations for nursing students, develops a scavenger hunt at the beginning of fall semester to help students to learn how to use the AP Stylebook and organizes presentations on nursing-related topics, such as faculty research projects throughout the year. Currently, the NSO is also sponsoring a "sock drive" to collect new white socks for the homeless and the elderly. Events and meetings are organized to benefit all the students of the nursing programs at Metropolitan State.

“The organization sponsors programs that are helpful to nursing students both professionally and as students,” says NSO Advisor, Ellen Schultz.

In addition to Schultz, the NSO leadership team includes President Courtney Ballina, Treasurer Chris Werner and Secretary Carrie Hanson, all of whom are graduate students in Nursing.

The End-of-the-Year Celebration will begin at 5 p.m. with a reception in the Great Hall and Pippa White’s presentation starting at 6 p.m. in Founder’s Hall Auditorium. White’s presentation will feature stories from Florence Nightingale, Lillian Wald and Margaret Sanger.

“Pippa White will chronicle the lives of three great reformers who changed the nursing profession and revolutionize health care,” says Schultz. “Their stories are taken from biographies, diaries and letters.”

The event is free for nursing students, faculty, staff and alumni but reservations must be made by signing up in class or by calling the Department of Nursing and Health Sciences at (651)793-1375.