Hannah Forrest works in a nursing lab in Brown Hall. She took general courses during Summer Sessions in order to focus on her major courses during the semester.
Junior nursing student Rachel Redders was able to add a biology minor that will help her resume stand out in her job search thanks to three years of Summer Sessions courses.
“Choosing classes in the summer that go along with your major helps a lot — just to keep you sharp for the next semester,” Redders said.
Summer courses keep students in the learning mode and helps them to retain their information and not lose knowledge during the summer months, she said.
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Summer Sessions run May 15-June 22 for the first session and June 26-Aug. 3 for the second session. Courses are offered in a variety of general and program-specific areas for each of the sessions.
Since nursing is a cohort program, without Summer Sessions Redders said she wouldn’t have been able to add her biology minor.
“This semester I’m taking 16 credits. I don’t really have time to take a minor class along with the program classes. It would be too much,” she said. “The summer classes helped me with that. I don’t think I’d be able to do that without them.”
Summer classes differ from classes during the semester because students focus on just one or two classes at a time, she said.
The timeline is condensed, and it’s more fast-paced, Redders said.
“I’ve had good experiences with my professors helping me answer all of my questions,” she said.
Taking generals during Summer Sessions allowed senior nursing student Hannah Forrest focus on her major courses during the semester.
“I’ve had good experiences with my professors helping me answer all of my questions.”
Forrest took general courses during the summer, so that she could concentrate on the science and nursing courses required of her major.
“It was just easier to get classes done, get one class out of the way,” she said. “And have something to do over the summer — not just work.”
Studying over the summer also helped her to retain information and get used to always be learning — something she’ll do in her future profession.
Even with studying during the summer there’s still plenty of time for enjoying the season and a summer job, Forrest said.
The sessions are about six weeks, which still leaves a break before the next semester. She also found plenty of time to pick up shifts at her job as a nursing aid at the hospital or to get home to the Twin Cities on the weekends to visit family, she said.
The classes were manageable, and it’s nice being on campus during the summer. People are playing outside and there’s nice weather.
Rachel Redders works in the nursing lab.
“I like campus in the summer,” Forrest said. “It was nice walking around campus before classes — not just holed up in your room. … It’s an excuse to do your homework outside too.”
She lived on-campus for a summer before moving off-campus and found living on-campus in summer to be a help.
It was easy to wake up an hour before class, get ready and walk 10 minutes to class not having to worry about commuting, she said.
When her computer broke down that summer, Forrest said she didn’t even have to change out of her pajamas before heading down to the computer lab to work on homework before classes.
“If I hadn’t lived on campus, I would have had to drive to campus to work on homework,” she said.
Forrest is doing her practicum at St. Francis Medical Center in Shakopee this spring and will graduate in May but said she’d recommend taking Summer Sessions classes to students from any major.
“Go for it — especially if you don’t overload yourself,” she said. “You can get one or two classes out of the way, but you should still have a summer vacation.”
This summer, Redders is taking her fourth Summer Sessions course. She is planning on doing an internship in the emergency room at Fairview Hospital in Southdale. The internship has a course that goes along with it that she can complete during the summer. The class is not required of nursing students, but Redders said it will give her an edge over other candidates when she graduates in 2018.
“This one I’m really excited for because internships can definitely get you ahead, and you can get a job offer from your internship,” she said.
