April 15, 2008
Nikki Pollock
High school student takes up-close look at nursing career
Nikki Pollock is a student who loves science...
She is the daughter of Helen Kinegak of Bethel and Nick Pollock from Nunn, Colorado. She is one of eight local high school students participating in job shadow experiences at YKHC this year.
"I love to help and meet people," said Pollock. "I wanted to see what it would be like being a nurse."
Pollock shadowed Donna Hutcherson, RN, for several months at Obstetrics (OB) to see the nursing profession up-close in a clinical setting. "It was great," said Pollock. "I met so many new, interesting people and got a lot of new information."
Obstetrics Nurse Manager Tania Thomas, RN, said the OB staff enjoyed having Pollock at their unit. "Nikki was like a sponge absorbing information," said Thomas. "She really raised our expectations of what having a student here meant. Her passion to be useful inspired us to invest our time and knowledge in her. We worked hard to expose her to as many experiences as we could."
Pollock concluded her shadow in December to start pre-nursing college courses at KuC and to complete her fulltime studies at Bethel Regional High School. In addition to college and high school studies, Pollock is also involved in the RRANN program (Recruitment and Retention of Alaska Natives in Nursing) as a pre-nursing student.
"I've learned from job shadowing at OB that nurses are the fundamentals of the unit, they're a very important aspect of keeping things running smoothly," said Pollock. "I got firsthand experience in what my future holds for me."