“I gave a baby its first bath,” said Illinois Theta Anna Hanson about her favorite moment working in a clinical setting. “[I’m] holding the baby over a basin of water, washing its head last and the baby was smiling.” Anna’s current clinical assignment is working with children and babies in obstetrics and pediatrics. She shadows a nurse and is responsible for one patient at a time. While the mother is recovering from labor, Anna helps assess babies in the nursery. This was when she was able to have one of her favorite experiences: giving a baby its first bath.

Anna has come a long way from last year when she first started; she was so uncomfortable and scared to walk into patients’ rooms. Now she is able to interact and communicate with the patients because she is more confident in her knowledge and skills. She loves seeing the development of the relationship between mother and child so much she is considering studying pediatrics after undergrad. Next year she has the opportunity to work in community health and adult health clinical settings. So she may fall in love with that too. Anna is having an incredible time learning to care for people.

At Bradley University (BU), the baccalaureate science of nursing program is a work and study intensive major. So Anna has used the quote “don’t climb the mountain just to reach the peak, climb for the view and the experience” at times when she needed extra motivation. It is also helpful that many members of Illinois Theta are nursing majors. Anna knows it is because they are all such caring people. The Pi Phis will study together in the chapter house basement, and the older students will give advice about the programs. Anna is fortunate to talk to people who understand how hard the work is or the challenges of waking up at 6:30 a.m. for a clinical rotation. She knows her college experience is far greater because she has her Pi Phi sisters to count on.