With commencement just around the corner, Tobias Fraedrich ’25 (NURS) sits down and recalls his 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: “Home, challenging, and friends.”

Q: What is your favorite thing about SoN?

A: “It’s the little things. Like getting cookies in the atrium for little events…that was really nice.”

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

A: “I would say the clinical instructors. Meeting them and seeing how engaged they are with their students and how enthusiastic they are. Every time we finish a semester, it was emotional saying goodbye to the instructors. That shows how close the students got to their professors.”

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

A: “Getting through the Honors program in nursing and achieving it. Also growing as a person. In a personal way, I learned a lot about myself and also academically by learning a lot about nursing, research, and about nursing as a science and art.”

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

A: “The best content is the one made memorable by an instructor. Maybe a funny story or a memory trick.”

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

A: “Managing all the resources the right way. Especially as a first-generation student, you don’t see those sources as resources. If I had known about them at the beginning, it would have changed a lot.”

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

A: “Global politics of childbearing with Dr. Eileen Condon. I still have the book today and I want to keep it because it reflects so much about nursing in different cultures.”

Q: Go-to spots on campus?

A: “Oh, the lakes. I like walking around the lakes.”

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

A: “At some point, we started saying ‘much success’ instead of saying ‘good luck’ because I always felt like good luck implies that you need luck to be successful. However, saying ‘much success,’ you know the things that are going to be on the test, and you’ve studied for it.”

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

A: “Make the most out of all the opportunities you get and don’t be disappointed if something doesn’t work out.”

Q: What are your plans after graduation?

A: “I just accepted a job at Yale New Haven Hospital so I’m very excited for that. I’m also applying to medical school either this year or next year. [At Yale] I’m going to work on a pulmonary progressive overflow unit.”

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

A: “I would definitely shout out my three honors advisors that I had throughout my journey: Dr. Casavant, Dr. Coffey, and Dr. Eaton. I think they made a huge impact by letting me develop as a person and letting me grow.”