USC Upstate SNA

First off, I would like to welcome you to the Mary Black School of Nursing here at USC-Upstate!! The coming months will be challenging, exciting, and tedious for you. But if you aspire to be a good nurse and enjoy helping others, this is definitely the place to be!

As a nursing student here at the MBSON, you will be afforded many opportunities to enrich your studies. One of these special opportunities is the Student Nurses’ Association. The Upstate chapter of SNA is a group of USC-Upstate students involved in the nursing profession. Even those students who are currently not eligible to apply to nursing school but are still planning to attend in the future, are encouraged to join. Some of the perks of being a member include going on weekend trips, organizing events around campus and the community, meeting and building relationships with nurses from a variety of interesting backgrounds, and of course forging relationships with nursing students who have been where you are right now! I’m a firm believer in the idea that the more involved you are, the better you do in the class setting!

As an incentive for joining SNA, there will be a raffle of various gifts and prizes for those of you who sign up before or at the nursing orientation August 23rd. The cost of membership is $30 dollars for a new member or a two year membership for $70. You can sign up online at http://www.nsna.org/ or bring your check or cash to the membership table at orientation. Don’t forget to bring with you your printed out receipt to orientation to be eligible for the raffle. Being a member also provides you with many benefits through the National SNA with discounts, career planning, NCLEX study tools, Insurance, and various other valuable resources. Also, at orientation, we will be having both a skit and a fashion show to help demonstrate what type of uniform should and should not be worn during your hospital clinicals. Gene’s Plus, a uniform store in Spartanburg, will be on hand selling merchandise for you to buy so that you will know exactly what type of uniform you’ll need. Furthermore, we will also be selling t-shirts for $5, special clipboards that will be useful during clinicals for $20, and ‘Be a Nurse’ magnets for $6.

As a fellow nursing student, I know that beginning nursing school can be very overwhelming. But I know that I speak for all of the current SNA members when I say that we’re willing to do whatever we can to make this a little easier for you. Our current President - Nicole Georgion and our Vice President - Leigh Sauls will be available at orientation to answer any questions you may have. Please feel free to come up to any of the SNA members during orientation if you have any questions, be it about SNA or nursing school in general. And, of course, get in on the fun and sign up as soon as you can and become a part of the Upstate chapter of SNA!!

Sincerely,

Jennifer Clamp

Membership Chair