Tuesday, June 17, 2025
CVTC nursing students thrive during community projects
Dawn Barone got emotional thinking about how hard her nursing program students worked on their community engagement projects last semester.
Barone, a nursing instructor at Chippewa Valley Technical College, collaborates with community organizations to create project-based learning activities for third-semester nursing students to help support the community organizations.
The nursing students' behavioral health clinical course includes 16 hours of community engagement. The experience is completed outside of course time with groups of two to four students choosing an activity to collaborate with an organization like the Open Door Clinic or the Community Table.
Barone said students typically complete about eight hours of direct volunteer time, along with completion of a project, with the organization. The students create poster presentations to summarize the community organization with which they worked
These activities stem back to the achievement of the primary nursing program outcomes of professionalism, communication, nursing theoretical knowledge, application of nursing process, and collaboration and safe care of clients, she said. Student teams may give a presentation to community members or volunteers at the organization, create an educational handout, or plan an activity for the community organization.
“One of my proudest moments of the most recent presentation day came during our reflection time after the event with all the students,” Barone said. “I asked the large group how many of them learned about a community organization that they had never known about before, and every one of them raised their hands.
“That’s really what this is all about – helping them see the effects of their time and energy on the community.”
Barone said the projects are more than busy work – it’s a chance to help an organization, and to learn more about how the community works together.
“I just hope they realize how much of an impact they had on the community in a short 16 weeks,” she said. “They are all amazing, and I know they will carry this experience with them as they move on to their careers.”
