With commencement just around the corner, Allison Villano ’25 (NURS) sits down and recalls her UConn School of Nursing experience.

Q: If you could describe your UConn SoN experience in three words or one phrase, what would they be?

A: “Rewarding, challenging, and fun.”

Q: What is your favorite thing about SoN?

A: “We do a lot of clinical hours, and I like that. Learning hands-on is really prioritized at UConn.”

Q: What are some of your fondest memories as a nursing student?

A: “Getting really close to my clinical group. We spent so much time together and I got to know so many people that I wouldn’t have known otherwise.”

Q: What are your biggest accomplishments during your time here?

A: “This past year I was President for the Student Nurses’ Association and last year I was Community Service Chair. I started a blood pressure clinic with some students from UConn Pharmacy. This past year I worked with Dr. Perez-Brescia and the Office of Diversity to do presentations for the Early Introduction to the Nursing Profession (EINP) program. During the year we go into high schools talking about the nursing profession. I did a presentation at my old high school and getting to see my old teachers and how far I’ve come since I’ve graduated from there…was really rewarding.”

Q: What’s your biggest takeaway or something that stuck with you during your SoN experience?

A: “You’re going to make mistakes and things will happen and not everything will go exactly how you plan it or how you imagine it going. It’s more about how you bounce back from that and make the most of your circumstances.”

Q: What’s something you wish you knew before coming into this program?

A: “Not to sweat anything too much. Especially during my first two years, before I got to clinical, I was very hyper-fixated on my grades, and it put on unnecessary stress.”

Q: If you could take a class again, what class would it be and why?

A: “I would say med-surg with Professor Sarage was definitely one of my favorites, it was really engaging.”

Q: Go-to spots on campus and why?

A: “I really like the student union, and the School of Nursing, there’s a lot of nice and quiet places you can go to.”

Q: Any study-hacks or superstition rituals before exams?

A: “I’m a big believer in rewriting your notes. I really tried to learn little bits every day leading up to the exam, so that way the day before the exam I could relax.”

Q: What advice would you give to incoming nursing students?

A: “Really enjoy the moment, because by the time your four years come to an end, you’re going to wish you did more.”

Q: What are your plans after graduation?

A: “I’ll be at Connecticut Children’s Hospital in Hartford at the end of July and I’ll be working in the float pool. We get floated to one of their three med-surg floors. I’ll be cross trained on all of those floors and I’ll do that for a while.”

Q: Any shoutouts to faculty or staff that helped you along the way?

A: “Definitely Dr. D’Ana Brooks. That’s a relationship that will be something I carry with me even after school. Professor Sarage from med-surg, she was really awesome. Yara Mendez and Kara Parker, they’re both clinical instructors with UConn. So much of what they told me and taught me I still do today and will do for the rest of my life.”