Mentoring program equips nursing students with alumni insight
By Lauren Dangle
As Rachel Shen (CWR ’24) prepared to transition from student to nurse, she wondered how the perspectives of the diverse, far-reaching network of Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing alumni could help students like her along their own journeys.
“Any nursing student could really benefit a lot from having someone older and more experienced to talk to,” said Shen, who herself had received guidance from a Case Western Reserve alum while she was working at Cleveland Clinic as a student.
So, during her fourth year at the School of Nursing, Shen—then the school’s alumni association board’s student representative—launched a program to connect members of the board with members of the Undergraduate Student Nurses Association.
She partnered with Mary Alice Dombrowski, ND (NUR ’00, ’04), a pediatric nurse practitioner in gastroenterology at University Hospitals Rainbow Babies & Children’s Hospital and member of the nursing school’s alumni board, to bring the two groups together.
They matched 16 undergraduate nursing students with alumni association board members according to students’ special interests and mentors’ areas of expertise.
Dombrowski, who serves as engagement director on the alumni board’s executive committee, hopes the program will serve as a “place for alumni board members to share their experiences and support nursing students at any level, whether it’s finding shadowing opportunities, making connections with other alumni for jobs, or even emotional and personal support.”
Shen and Dombrowski intend to evaluate the impact of the mentorship program through alumni and student interviews, then hope to expand the program to include other alumni and students.
As one of the most recent additions to the nursing school’s alumni community, Shen hopes to take part in the program herself and help other students succeed through a relatable perspective.
“I would still love to be able to connect with the School of Nursing,” Shen said, “and see how students are doing here.”
Dombrowski said a program like this would have helped her during her time at the university, so she’s thrilled to help facilitate it now.
“My time at [the nursing school] was so special,” she recalled. “I really want to be able to give something back to the school that gave so much to me.”
This article appears in the print edition of Forefront magazine, summer 2024. Find more stories from Forefront at case.edu/nursing/news-events/forefront-magazine.