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Making an Impact on Future Nurses:
IU School of Nursing at IUPUI Hosts First "Breaking the Myths of Nursing" Event for Underrepresented Students
Twenty high school students visited the Indiana University School of Nursing at IUPUI to learn more about the field of nursing. The day-long program provided students with an insight into the realities of nursing in order to “break the myths” which circulate about the field.
“The importance of this program was to spark an interest among underrepresented students, which includes males, in nursing; to continue building the bridges that create a culturally diverse workforce and meet the healthcare needs of the community,” said Marsha Baker, Director of the Office of Diversity and Enrichment.
There were two components of the event: instructional and participatory. During the first half of the day, the high school students were provided an open forum to ask questions of nursing students, staff, and faculty. Students also had the opportunity to learn about how to prepare for college and the nursing admission process. Chandra Dyson, Assistant Dean of Student Services, stressed the importance of academic excellence in high school and the first two years of college when applying to a nursing school.
“If you work hard, you can do anything, but you have to work hard,” said Dyson.
Da Nine Hester-Harris, a nurse practitioner at St. Vincent Hospital as well as DNP student at IUSON and adjunct faculty member for the IU School of Nursing, spoke to students about her nontraditional path to becoming a nurse and the challenges she met along the way.
“I didn’t have a job, and I didn’t have a car,” said Hester-Harris. “I would catch three buses to get to school. That’s how I started.”
Hester-Harris explained that she never wants to stop learning about her field and that nursing can lead people in many different directions because of the diversity of options available.
“My passion is to provide healthcare for people who live like I did,” said Hester-Harris. “I grew up very poor without health care.”
During the participatory component in the afternoon, students watched the IU School of Nursing students engage in a stroke simulation and later had the chance to use stethoscopes to listen to a simulation manikin breath and gurgle. A manikin, not to be confused with a dress form mannequin, is an anatomically accurate simulator that is used by many nursing schools to teach students how to properly administer care by acting out hundreds of pre-programmed simulations of real-life patient care situations.
“Anything you can do with a human, you can do with the manikin,” said Rita Arnold, MBA, RN, Simulation Coordinator for the Department of Learning Resources.
Alliyah Jones, a sophomore at Terre Haute North High School, traveled nearly two hours to attend the program. She was excited to learn about a field that was close to her heart. The day also changed her views on school and her future. “I can’t just take a class for a grade,” said Jones. “I have to actually learn something. Nurses don’t just have one job, so I am going to have to know how to do a lot of things.”
Jones plans to take more advanced classes in the fall and wants to be more organized before she enters college.
“As I finish high school, I will keep in mind the grades I have to get in order to get into college and nursing school,” said Jones. “Today was really good and educational. It made me want to volunteer and do some things in the community, too.”
The day ended with a panel discussion hosted by current IU School of Nursing students and faculty, and the students received certificates of completion for the program.
The program was cosponsored by the Metropolitan Indianapolis Central Indiana Area Health Education Center (MICI-AHEC) and the Eta Chi Chapter of the Chi Eta Phi Sorority. For more information regarding the program, please contact Marsha Baker in the Office of Diversity and Enrichment at (317) 278-2206 or via email at
nurseode [at] iupui [dot] edu
The Indiana University School of Nursing is one of the largest nursing schools in the nation and offers programs such as the Bachelors in Nursing, eight tracks in the Master’s program to the PhD and DNP. The school was recently ranked #9 for National Institutes of Health funding and U.S. News & World Report ranked the graduate programs 15th in the nation.
MICI-AHEC evaluates and addresses the health needs of communities within and among the regions and provides innovative, collaborative, multidisciplinary responses to those needs and is also a part of St. Vincent Health. St. Vincent Health is a nonprofit, spiritually-centered health system sponsored by Ascension Health of St. Louis, MO, the nation’s largest Catholic health system. St. Vincent is one of Indiana’s largest employers with 19 health ministries serving 45 counties in central Indiana.
Chi Eta Phi Sorority, Inc. is a professional association for registered professional nurses and student nurses (male and female) representing many cultures and diverse ethnic backgrounds. More than 8000 registered nurses and student nurses hold membership in Chi Eta Phi Sorority, Inc.
