Finding support and friendship: My journey with UC's iLEAD program
By: Julia Munday, Bachelor of Science in Nursing '26; Nursing Ambassador
The adrenaline rush of confirming my acceptance to UC College of Nursing Bachelor of Science in Nursing program masked the true meaning behind what it actually meant — I’d been incredibly lucky to have a group of friends that I viewed as sisters back home, in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and now I would be spending the next four years over a four-hour drive away from all but one of them. I used to ask my parents every miniscule question about how to do this or that — and believe me, I still do — but it hit me that I would now need to find a time when we were all free to talk. I spent over twelve years surrounded by the same kids every day, so I never had to make new friends completely from scratch. Ultimately, I got to UC and realized I had absolutely no idea what I was doing.
As I looked at my freshman year schedule for the first time, I saw an hour-long class titled “iLEAD” at the end of my longest day. At first, I sort of groaned at the thought of having yet another class I needed to go to, let alone another uphill trek all the way to the medical campus. But when I first met my learning community the weekend before classes started, my mindset completely changed.
Munday's Learning Community and their sophomore mentor
I looked around and saw 19 other faces that reflected the same nerves and anxiety I was feeling, and we were all instantly relaxed by the bubbling energy provided by our two mentors as they ran over in excitement to greet us. They validated our fears of all the stress that comes along with pursuing a career in nursing, and they also made sure that each of us knew they had our backs no matter what. From this moment on, I knew that iLEAD wouldn’t be all that bad.
Each Learning Community, or LC, groups together 16-20 students who follow the same class schedule throughout the entire year. Once a week, each LC meets as a group with their two to three upperclassmen mentors in a “class” called iLEAD — one of my favorite things offered by UC’s BSN program! During each of these meetings, mentors get to share everything related to freshman year: housing, classes, things to do around Cincinnati, you name it! The purpose of iLEAD is to facilitate freshman nursing students in getting to know each other and ensuring that everyone has a community they can rely on. The program mentors make it easy and comfortable for freshmen to seek advice as they act more like a friend than a faculty member. I loved my LC and mentors from my freshman year so much that I decided to become an iLEAD mentor as well.
Munday and classmates at their White Coat Ceremony
Becoming an iLEAD mentor has hands down been one of my favorite ways to get involved with the College of Nursing, because I get to be directly involved with the future of the BSN program. Each week, I look forward to seeing my amazing group of freshmen and catching up about everything going on in our lives. Whether it’s relating to them about how tough anatomy and physiology can be, helping settle their impending anxieties about clinical and pathopharm, or simply playing a few card games because we all just need a brain break, getting to spend time with them always brings me so much joy!
I constantly look back on my freshman year and how nervous I was; how I thought I needed to figure out how to navigate college alone on top of learning everything about patient care and life-saving medications. The great thing was that I was never on my own through this experience! I knew that not only the other 19 people in my LC had my back, but my mentors did too. I met some of my best friends in my LC and I still keep in touch with my mentors as well!
Pursuing a degree in nursing is nothing short of difficult, but it’s refreshing to have a group of people I can surround myself with who know exactly what I’m going through. I love being able to provide that same source of comfort and support back to first-year students and I’m excited to finish out this year and continue onto a third.
If you’re nervous about getting a fresh start in college and need the reassurance that you will be supported no matter what, I can assure you that UC is the place for you. Sure — having students be the best nurses they can be by the time they graduate is the main goal of the program, but at the moment you hit that “accept” button, you will start experiencing the college community coming together to help nurses thrive by learning how to support each other, lean on each other, and have each other's backs no matter what.
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