Since meeting Meghan Maugans at Drexel University through our mutual sorority of Alpha Sigma Alpha, I have truly only known her to be an extremely hard worker in any situation that comes her way. Maugans is currently a 5th year senior pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Nursing. After graduation, she hopes to land a job at The Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania working on any type of intensive care unit. Knowing Maugans personally and hearing stories of her talk about patients, I am certain that she will make a damn good nurse in the near future.

I posed Maugans with the question of what she felt was the most valuable lesson that she has learned from being in college thus far. Maugans gave valuable insight by discussing the fact that Drexel is that much more challenging because of the quarter system. She feels that the quarter system has aided in helping her learn, “if you believe in yourself anything is possible.” Maugans pointed out that before coming to Drexel, as students we are constantly reassured by teachers that we are going to be okay. As a freshman nursing major, Maugans recalls being in lecture halls where there were 200+ students and the professor did not even care to learn your name. This helped her learn that you must always make yourself a priority and do what’s best for yourself. Maugans says, “there have been many times in nursing school where I just wanted to give up and stop trying because that is what seemed the easiest.” Looking back now she couldn’t be happier that she can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Like other interviewees, Maugans would say her best advice for incoming freshmen is to take time for yourself. She says, “Ten-week quarters can become very hectic but taking care of your health is the most important, you need to prevent yourself from getting burned out because college is four-to-five years and not just one quarter.” I couldn’t agree more with this statement being that I personally feel extremely drained now that I am coming to the end of my college experience.

In addition, I asked Maugans whether she learned more inside of the classroom or outside of the classroom. In contrast to many of my other interviewees, Maugans would have to side with the fact that she learned more inside of the classroom due to the mere fact that she was in the prestigious nursing program. She believes that the nursing professors at this institution, “teach in depth every quarter as much as they can.” However, Maugans believes that the “co-op experience at Drexel has greatly shaped who I am today and the kind of nurse I will be someday.” Maugans greatly enjoyed the last co-op that she completed at The Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania in one of their Intensive Care Units. She says, “all the nurses took me underneath their wings and taught me anything I wanted to know or learn about.”