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UNC School of Nursing welcomes elementary, middle school students to learn about health care, healthy lifestyles

Saturday afternoon, the bottom floor of Carrington Hall was quiet — eerily quiet for a place accommodating nearly 200 children from second through eighth grade. 

“I know it looks like there’s nobody here, but just you wait,” said Megan Williams, faculty advisor to the UNC Association of Nursing Students. 

Just like that, the arrival of pizza and lemonade cued a mass migration of Girl Scouts  — and one Boy Scout — from all over the UNC School of Nursing. 

The day’s program, TarHeal Explorations, is an effort by the UNC Association of Nursing Students to reach out to the next generation of potential health care providers and teach them how to maintain healthy lifestyles.

UNC Association of Nursing Students Vice President Claire Clement said the service-based club has been planning the event since May. They got sponsorships and food donations from organizations including the National Student Nurses' Association, Domino’s and Jason’s Deli, she said. 

Nearly 200 Scouts from 26 troops across the state participated in the event, which was divided into an introduction, six learning stations, lunch and a closing ceremony, Williams said. 

The stations covered topics including nutrition, healthy habits, infection control, first aid, anatomy and a “STAN” patient simulator.

“We call it our STAN station,” Clement said. “He’s like this super awesome robot mannequin. They can hear breath sounds and heart sounds and feel pulses … to see what giving an examination is like.”

Mackenzie Hudson, a 12-year-old Girl Scout from Wake Forest, said her favorite part was learning about first aid and all the different nurses in the program. 

“I’ve wanted to be one since I was really little,” she said.

Williams said she noticed the Scouts really look up to the nursing students as role models in what they want to be.

“There’s this palpable energy,” she said. “I had this feeling when I walked in, and the auditorium was full, and they’re all looking at the students up there — it really makes me proud.”

Williams said increasing diversity in nursing is a step toward improving the profession. She said it is important to use UNC’s programs and resources to help students in areas that may not have as many opportunities as Chapel Hill.

“I think it’s really important for us to say, ‘Yes, higher education is for you. We expect you to go to school, and if you want to become a nurse, we know you can do it,’” Williams said.

“We want them to leave feeling like, ‘I can be important and make a difference in this world.’ If we can reach young people, that’s huge.”

university@dailytarheel.com

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