Download Campus Vitals as a PDF

Included are:
• Encouraging Words
• Successful Fall Kickoff Event Reports
• Group Ideas – WebPages and Outreach Events
• Missions – Experiences and Opportunities
• Thinking Ahead to Next Year
• Use of the NCF Logo Guidelines
• Faculty/Student Leader Corner

Successful Fall Kickoff Events - (consider these for your group this coming fall!)
Amanda at Louisiana State University shared that “the first week of school we gave out 150 pounds of free jambalaya along with water and starbursts on campus- it was a HUGE success!!! We've already had two monthly meetings where we invite the whole school and have pizza. A local pastor is coming and teaching from Philippians which has been GREAT. We have two small groups going.”

Jean at Austin Community College, along with her students, put together and gave out over 200 “HOPE” kits to RN and LVN students. The Gideons also passed out New Testaments to all who wanted them.

The “HOPE” acronym stands for:
H = Help - contact info for resources at school- media center, library, tutor, counselor, etc.
O = Organization - tips on how to be organized and survive in nursing school
P = Practical information - test taking tips, self care, etc.
E = Experience - how to get in touch with NCF and other campus group leaders for mentoring and assistance

The “HOPE” kit contents can be personalized by school. The petal card template can be downloaded from http://www.paperandmore.com/articles/card_templates/card_square_petal.html, and the information can be printed on square papers to fit inside the card. If you would like a more specific example, please contact bhann@intervarsity.org.

Kim, at Fort Hays State University, reports that they held a BBQ in cooperation with their Nursing Student Organization. They had a great attendance and got the word out about their group to many pre-nursing students. (See the Faculty Corner section for more about the outreach strategies used by this group.)

Group ideas
Austin Community College developed their own webpage and invite you to check it out at http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/ACCNCF/!

“We use it for a group calendar, announcements, communication, photo album, planning and will be using to conduct on-line elections for our new officers. This is a very simple user friendly and FREE way to get your group organized and keep them informed of events. We plan to use the distribution list for a daily encouragement thought as well. Here's the link to get started with a Free Yahoo group page: http://groups.yahoo.com/.

Outreach Events
San Jose State University held a meeting to reach out to seekers. Cheryl posted some thought provoking questions and resources to spark interest before hand. Here is a portion of their flier: If you struggle with forgiving others or find it strange that you, the nice person that you are, need to be forgiven, NCF welcomes you to join us next Tues. Oct. 10th to find out how you can receive and learn about freedom in forgiveness and the ties that keep you bound in anger and resentment. To read up on this topic, you may research the following scriptures and websites regarding forgiveness.

Mission Experiences
Faculty advisor Debbi Groves, from Cox Health Systems School of Nursing, took students on a mission trip to Haiti. They raised funds with an aluminum can drive and bake sale, which raised over $400 to purchase infant formula & cereal, protein enriched food items which is lacking in their diet such as peanut butter, canned meat and sun dried raisins and over the counter medications. The team was involved in several ministry opportunities. They were involved in “hands-on” patient assessment, obtaining and evaluating the objective and subjective data of each client, and, in conjunction with the medical provider, diagnosed and implemented treatment within our physical capability. One student nurse, Clara, states concerning her clinic experience, “something I saw today for the first time was a patient with Malaria and a patient with worms”. Though the students felt that their nursing skills were strengthened, there were other aspects that were touched as well. Rachel states, “I really think working in the clinic today helped me grow spiritually. So many people came to the clinic today that had to walk for miles and miles. They walked to come to this clinic to receive care because they believe the medicine is blessed by God.” In the “OB room”, students were able to identify 3 sets of twins via doppler and saw several smiling moms as they heard their baby’s heart beat for the first time. In contrast they identified several pregnancies of women unaware they were HIV positive. In addition to the clinic, the students participated in the food distribution, prayer, and devotion with mothers whose children are in the infant or the clinics each day. It was a wonderful opportunity for Cox College students to share their knowledge with the Haitian nurses as well as others.

Urbana Missions Conference Report
The Urbana ’06 Tri-annual Missions Convention just took place in St. Louis. There were great seminars for nursing students in both an AIDS/HIV and Healthcare track. NCF also had a booth where we talked to many nursing students and nurses about starting groups on their campus and how to prepare themselves for ministry. A community meeting for nursing students was held, where a panel spoke to encourage students, point them to resources and answer questions. Time was also spent in prayer for the students, many of whom are seeking God’s direction in their lives. Please join us in prayer for these nursing students, as they return to their campuses, that they may put into practice the things that God has been speaking to them about.

Global Projects – each year InterVarsity sponsors a global project to Kenya for nursing students. See http://www.intervarsity.org/gp/project.php?row_id=211 for more information. If you are interested in going this year, contact Debbie Lee ASAP.

Faculty/ Student Leader’s Corner
Meeting ideas –
A faculty member from Austin Community College spoke on Therapeutic “Offering Self” as a part of what we are calling our “Spiritual Care Series”. The students wanted to hear from practicing nurses how they share their faith in appropriate ways with patients and in this case with students.

Working together with NSOs
At the BBQ that Fort Hays State University held in cooperation with their Nursing Student Organization, Kim reports they “had a lot of pre-nursing (not yet admitted) students in attendance (which was our goal--get them linked in early). “We find that the earlier we get students involved in NCF, the more committed & involved they stay--before they get too busy with the more rigorous demands of nursing school. Then we have great leadership for several years in a row. We generally have around 80 admitted nursing students in our oncampus program, but considering faculty and prenursing students in attendance, we probably had 1/4 to 1/3 of those admitted students at the BBQ.”

“We have been excited to have 15-25 students at each of our weekly NCF meetings this fall-- not always the same students, so more than that involved overall. One thing that has helped us, I believe, is the cooperative efforts between the Nursing Student Organization & NCF. We are working together on the Christmas project for children right now, as we did on the BBQ. There is some overlap of members, and I believe some of the students who have now joined NCF first went to the Nursing Student Organization meetings. We plan to share in some fundraising projects—them to raise funds for attendance at the national convention & us for a mission trip. And we have set our meetings back to back on Mondays--one at 5:30 weekly, the other at 6:30 every other week. Once students plan to get out for one, I think they figure why not do both. We also each have our own unique projects and purposes, which would draw some students to one group rather than the other.”

If you have anything that you would like to share in Campus Vitals, please send them to bhann@intervarsity.org. Thanks!