At one of the only student run skills labs in Maryland, we are responsible for teaching and verifying that nursing students know everything pertinent about a skill as well as how to perform it before they reach the hospital setting with real clients. After they are first taught by the professor, they are able to make appointments with the lab assistants for either required practice or competency verification. Since it might have been weeks since the professor's taught them, required practice allows the student to review the skill as well as the indications, contraindications, and other pertinent information. They are able to ask questions about how to perform the skill as well as general questions about navigating the nursing program and hospital. The lab provides mannequins and other medical equipment that try to recreate the hospital setting as best as possible. When the students come in for competency verification, the expectation is that they know the skill front to back and are able to perform it in front of the assistants without asking any questions. This is a test and many students take more than one try to pass. As a nursing student as well as a lab assistant, it's sometimes hard to "fail" these students because many of them are your close friends. Creating boundaries and thinking of the clients first is a skill that we all develop as lab assistants.

Everyone always wants to think that their summer camp is so special and unique, and I am no better. At this rustic camp in the middle of the Appalachian mountains, we host around 200 children ages nine to fourteen every summer. As a counselor, you are responsible for creating and mapping out a unique three to four day hiking or canoeing trip where you will cook and sleep under tarps in the wilderness with your unit of five to fifteen children. You usually have one or two peers to help you foster this smaller community but are left to your own devices once on the trail since phones and other technologies are hidden from the children. On these trips, common issues include homesickness, poison ivy, severe bug bites, and mobility issues from twisted ankles and falls. The miles are long so encouraging the slower hikers is also a skill that we all get to develop.All my friends tell me it sounds like torture but I was a camper here for five years and can vouch that it was the best experience of my life. Each day not on the trail is filled with strange and fun activities that the counselors come up with and everyone is super engaged since there are no phones. You connect and learn more about the world around you in a very safe and nurturing space. It might be unrealistic as I head into the world of nursing but I hope find time to come back every summer for at least a little taste of Shiloh love.