Most college students spend their last summer of college exploring career opportunities in an internship or relaxing on vacation before starting their senior year. Two Kent State University Army Reserve Officers Training Corps (ROTC) cadets, will be spending their summer immersed in an experience propelling them into a career with the Army.
Elaine Harness and Fiona Reckart from Kent State’s Golden Eagle Battalion were selected among the Army’s top ROTC cadets to attend the Army Nurse Summer Training Program (NSTP).
NSTP is a four-week paid clinical elective offered in Army hospitals across the United States and Germany. It is intended to introduce cadets to the Army Medical Department and prepare them for potential commissioning as officers in the Army Nurse Corps. Through mentorship and one-on-one experiences, cadets improve their critical thinking, clinical reasoning and the skills needed to be a professional in the Army Nurse Corps. By the time cadets complete NSTP, they should have achieved 120-150 active clinical hours in an Army hospital.
United States Army Lt. Col. Adrien Humphreys, department chair and professor of military science at Kent State, shared why NSTP will be an impactful experience for these two cadets.
“Participation in this program will definitely enable cadet Reckart and cadet Harness to excel in the nursing field as they will be afforded the autonomy and independence to confidently display their clinical knowledge,” Humphreys said. “Ultimately, they will develop and practice leadership skills in a clinical environment with daily collaborations with healthcare professionals on decisions related to management, organizational issues and strategies utilized in the provision of nursing care.”
Harness, a senior nursing major and three-year National Army ROTC scholarship recipient from Pickerington, Ohio, is traveling to Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, Texas, home of the Army’s largest in-patient hospital. Four-year National Army ROTC scholarship recipient and junior nursing major Reckart, will be traveling to Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Landstuhl, Germany, to complete the program. Landstuhl Regional Medical Center serves as the primary treatment center for wounded service members in Europe, Southeast Asia and the Middle East.
“I’m excited to travel and see a new place and see how nursing works in the Army, and in the military in general,” Reckart said.
Harness has always felt a calling to the medical field. She said being in Kent State’s Army ROTC program has given her the opportunity to grow and explore her passions within the field of nursing.
“I think both ROTC and the nursing program have pushed me to be better,” Harness said. “Being in the military offers so many unique experiences that normally you aren’t exposed to in nursing.”
Through NSTP, Harness hopes to learn more about the different opportunities for Officers in the Army Nurse Corps with the goal of one day becoming an Army flight nurse.
Reckart is a junior nursing major from Columbia Station, Ohio. For her, Kent State’s Army ROTC program has taught her she is capable of more than she thought. Being a nursing student while also participating in ROTC has pushed her in ways she didn’t think possible and ultimately taught her invaluable life skills that she will take with her into the field.
“My goal is to find where I feel comfortable with my skill set,” Reckart said. “I want to experience everything I can and see all of the different opportunities I don’t even know about yet.”
Both Harness and Reckart plan to graduate and commission as Active Duty Second Lieutenants in December 2023. Upon completion of their nursing exams and graduation from Kent State, they will be stationed in an Army hospital either domestically or abroad practicing medical-surgical nursing.
“The autonomy to practice nursing as part of the Army Health Care Team is unlike most civilian health care facilities,” Humphreys said. “Your professional judgment will be the driving force behind ensuring that all aspects of a patient’s care are addressed, and you’ll be responsible for initiating coordination of a patient’s multidisciplinary care.”
Learn more about Army ROTC at Kent State.
Learn more about Kent State’s College of Nursing.
Picture 1: Flags flying at Veterans Day Ceremony. Picture 2: Cadet Harness in uniform. Picture 3: Cadet Harness (right) standing with Flash and another cadet. Picture 4: Cadet Reckart in nursing uniform. Picture 5: Cadet Reckart in U.S. Army uniform. Banner: Army Hospital.