Christine Blay

Christine Blay
Experiential Learning

Major: Nursing, Community and Public Health

Certificates: Global Health, Global Leadership 

Involvement

  • Internship: I am currently a student intern/volunteer with the office of health promotions. I am being mentored by the Director Ann Brandon and the former well-being coach, Dianna John-Ward to keep the health initiative program: change our outcomes going.
  • Community involvement: for the 2022-2023 academic year, I will be serving as a research fellow with faculty from HCOM and the RECAC division of the Athens County foundation in conducting minority health research in Appalachia.
  • Campus involvement: John Newton Templeton Scholar, LINKS peer mentor, Pre-nursing learning community leader, Student Board member of the University Hearing board, Class of 2025 representative for the Bachelor of Science in nursing organization, and community service chair for Unified Sisters

Why is experiential learning important to you?

As a big believer in practicum experiences, I think it is highly important for all students to experience some sort of experiential learning in their chosen field because it offers them the opportunity to experience their future careers in the real world. Being on site and doing hand on work is so much different from sitting in the classroom and if students can engage in experiential learning, it prepares them so much better for life after college

How has experiential learning impacted your learning experience at OHIO?

As a health sciences major, I will be gaining a lot of experiences throughout my time at Ohio University. My favorite experiences stem from my nursing clinicals. With this experience, I get to interact with patients and healthcare professionals in the real world (hospital, and health facilities) to begin applying the skills that are being taught to me in the classroom.

Where do you see yourself 10 years from now?

10 years from now, I hope to have acquired my doctorates and working as a clinician in a top surgical facility. Outside of that, I hope to travel to vulnerable populations around the world and facilitating conversations and programs about health promotion and disease prevention.