SIOUX CENTER, Iowa -- Friday was a day of otoscopes, stethoscopes, blood sugar monitors and sterile gloves. Not your usual college visit experience. Unless, that is, you’re interested in a nursing degree from Dordt College here.

 

“Hands above the waist,” Jenna Heerema, a registered nurse and Dordt senior, reminded a handful of the 15 high school seniors who had somehow contorted themselves into sterile surgical gowns and gloves while trying not to contaminate them.

 

Heerema was among Dordt senior nursing students helping with the hands-on activities. All the seniors are registered nurses following two years in a partnering program with St. Luke’s College in Sioux City, and now are back on campus finishing up their bachelor’s degrees. They will be the fourth class to graduate from Dordt’s nursing program.

 

Nervous laughs dotted the air as the prospective students – who came from as far away as Canada and Texas -- tried their hand at looking inside each other’s eyes and ears, listening to their own heart and stomach, testing their own blood sugar and wrapping “injuries” in colorful conforming gauze.

 

Alena Schweger, of Milan, Minn., said she thinks nursing is right for her.

“I really like helping people and I’d like to be in a job where I’d be needed and really make a difference in people’s lives,” she said. She said she Dordt is one of several Christian colleges with nursing programs she’s considering.

 

“I’ve just always wanted to be a nurse,” said Bethany Vander Berg, of Zeeland, Mich. And did she mention her “whole family” has gone to Dordt? In fact her grandmother and father came along on the visit.

 

Grandmother Marlene Vander Berg, of Holland, Mich., said her husband, Milton, graduated in Dordt’s first class and all their children were born in Sioux Center. Bethany’s father, Mark Vander Berg, noted that two family members, an aunt and uncle of Bethany, teach at the school.

 

Lori Boon, a nurse from nearby Rock Valley, Iowa, accompanied her daughter, Jamie. “Hopefully this day will help her decide,” she said.

 

The career path for Lee Attema, of Houston, Texas, 15 is quite clear. “My dad’s a nurse practitioner,” he said, “and at my high school we have a health sciences program; I do rotations at different hospitals.”

 

No surprise, he plans to become a nurse practitioner. And why Dordt? His mother, a microbiologist, is an alumna of the college.

 

 

BREAKOUT

 

Want to play nursing Jeopardy? 

The hands-on skills practice was followed with a game of nursing Jeopardy. But Friday’s campus visit wasn’t just about fun. The high schoolers and their parents had serious questions for the Dordt nursing students and some faculty, including Mary De Young, R.N., B.S.N., C.C.R.N, and Dr. Pam Holstein, director of the program. Here’s a sampling:

 

Q. Is there an opportunity to work in the specialty field you’re interested in?

A. Yes, there are more opportunities because students become R.N.s before graduating. Some specialties would require going to Sioux Falls or a bigger city.

Q. Does St. Luke’s have a class to prepare you for the test?

A. Yes, and several interim classes too.

Q. What is St. Luke’s attitude on abortion and do they perform any?

A.“No. I have not seen any conflicts in our beliefs, not just abortions, there are many areas.” – De Young. (Dordt College has an affiliation with the Christian Reformed Church.)

Q. How did you prepare for the interview with St. Luke’s?

A. Talked to the older students.

Q. How much do textbooks cost?

A. It depends. I’ve found some online, cheaper.