Aaron Felebrico, a nursing major from Rockford, Illinois, knew since his sophomore year of high school that he wanted to be a nurse one day. What appealed to him most about the nursing field was the wide range of options, as well as knowing that no matter what he pursued within nursing, he would be able to help people.
Felebrico first heard about UWM through a friend who was a current student and gave him an informal tour of campus. “I went on a very nice day. Seeing the environment and all the students around campus, I just wanted to go there. The campus was a good size for me and felt like a home away from home,” he says.
A big part of UWM’s nursing program is clinicals, which is when nursing students are assigned to hospitals and local clinics where they get hands-on experience in the field as well as the chance to explore different specialties. Because of COVID-19, Felebrico was worried he wouldn’t get placed, but says, “The faculty and staff who run UWM’s nursing program went above and beyond to make sure every nursing student was placed at a clinical site.”
Felebrico did his first semester of clinicals at Ascension St. Francis Hospital and Ascension Columbia St. Mary’s Hospital for his second.
Although getting a real taste of the nursing field is a huge aspect of the clinical experience, for Felebrico, clinicals also meant getting renewed confidence in his own abilities and finding support amongst his peers in the nursing program.
“I was nervous at first, but the instructors, my cohort, they’ve all just been so supportive. At the end of a clinical day, we come together as a group and discuss what went well with our patient, what went wrong, and how we could better take those situations on,” Felebrico says. “I think that’s amazing, to be part of a team like that.”
UWM’s nursing program is ranked in the top 11% of nearly 700 Bachelor of Science in Nursing programs reviewed by U.S. News & World Report. Nursing students advance their studies at more than 130 community and clinical partner sites, such as Advocate Aurora Health, House of Peace, Children’s Wisconsin, Silver Spring Community Neighborhood Center and Froedtert & the Medical College of Wisconsin.
