Shenandoah offers student nurses multiple opportunities to experience health care overseas. SU has an active mission program, and the School of Nursing has traditionally offered a nursing mission trip over spring break. In recent years, nursing students and faculty have traveled the Amazon on a medical mission boat, serving native populations in different ports each day.
SU Nursing also offers for-credit international opportunities. In addition to traditional study abroad programs, we offer unique opportunities tailored to nursing students that build upon relationships faculty have built all over the world. In the past few years, students have had the opportunity to travel with SU faculty to Thailand, Switzerland, Tanzania, Haiti, and Ireland, to name a few.
SU Nursing has hosted global nursing groups on many occasions and from many countries, including Thailand and Japan. We also have very diverse student body, which enhances the dialogue in classes and in clinical settings. We plan events throughout the year to celebrate our diversity and to learn from one another.
Our students, faculty and staff are also invited to apply for the Global Citizenship Project, or GCP, each year. As part of our global focus here at SU, the University sponsors about six trips around the world over spring break. Interested SU community members apply for a position, and if selected, work together throughout the year to learn about their destination. Once they return, they share their new knowledge with the campus. Traditionally, the major expenses of these trips have been funded by the university, making GCP a unique opportunity to travel overseas at little cost for those selected.
Learn more about Education Abroad at Shenandoah
What students are saying:
The most memorable part of the program was getting the chance to go to Ghana, Africa with other healthcare graduate students (AT’s, PA’s, and OT’s). In Ghana, I believe we helped triage, examine, and medicate over 900 Ghanaians in a rural part of the country that would otherwise not bother to get medical care. The trip still lives with me as a nurse today and makes me want to eventually help on NGO medical mission trips!
Nicole Kunkel ’20 | Nursing Major with a Public Health minor
I love that the nursing program at SU offers opportunities to extend our health professions experiences beyond the classroom with mission trips. Over spring break, I was given an opportunity to participate in a medical mission trip to Brazil that was extremely rewarding and beneficial to my nursing education! It allowed me an opportunity to put practical skills to use and develop a deeper connection between my fellow nursing students and faculty as we worked together to provide healthcare in a remote community.”
Leslie Purcell ’13, ’21 | M.S.N. & B.S.N., RN traveled by boat with a medical mission team to Manaus, Brazil, the capital of the Amazonas
I have traveled to Brazil with SU on a GEL trip. This was one of the best experiences of my life. I went with nursing students and faculty and spiritual life faculty. We lived on a hospital and mission boat and traveled along the Amazon river providing physical and spiritual care to those who live in remote areas. I was able to see my professors use the concepts and skills they teach in the classroom. While providing care, I learned about the culture and how it differed from the city to the rural villages. The food was prepared by locals and most of the dishes were traditional Brazilian dishes. We also got the chance to go to a market before getting on the boat and to finish of the trip we swam in the Amazon River! This opportunity was eye opening and one I will never forget.
Alice Davenport ’19 | Nursing
It is very hard to pick a favorite part of my GEL trip to Uganda since we did so many new and amazing activities. If I had to pick just one, however, I would choose administering fluoride treatments to the 233 students at Nyaka Primary School in Uganda. Many of the students will never receive any other dental treatments and so it was a joy to do something that will hopefully protect the children’s teeth. I hope that are our actions will make a difference in the lives of these children. I know that taking the time to serve in this way made a difference in mine. It was such a beautiful country and I love how simple their lifestyle was. Even though I am glad to be home, part of my heart will always be in the small African country of Uganda.
Heather Lilley ’18 | Nursing