{"id":43424,"date":"2011-08-15T11:59:23","date_gmt":"2011-08-15T15:59:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?p=43424"},"modified":"2023-06-27T13:15:19","modified_gmt":"2023-06-27T17:15:19","slug":"in-wimse-van-dugteren-experiences-everything","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2011\/08\/in-wimse-van-dugteren-experiences-everything\/","title":{"rendered":"In WiMSE, Van Dugteren Experiences Everything"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Jenna<\/a>
Jenna Van Dugteren, '12 (CLAS). Photo by Peter Morenus<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

<\/strong>The acronym WiMSE stands for Women in Math, Science, and Engineering, although for Jenna Van Dugteren \u201912 (CLAS), the \u201cE\u201d could stand for Everything.<\/p>\n

The \u201cEverything\u201d includes her list of activities at UConn: biology mentoring, Outing Club, Husky Ambassadors, Debate Club, Guard Dogs, Nature and Wildlife Club, Alternative Spring Break, and Huskies Away From Home mentoring.<\/p>\n

But it is her work as the resident assistant for the WiMSE Learning Community where Van Dugteren discovered a passion for helping people. Learning Communities at UConn allow students with similar majors or interests to choose to live together in a residence hall.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love being an RA,\u201d says Van Dugteren. \u201cIt\u2019s definitely one of the best things I\u2019ve done. It made a huge difference in my life. I love my job.\u201d<\/p>\n

As a student at Lakeland Regional High School in New Jersey, Van Dugteren took a forensics class that sparked her interest in science. \u201cWe did everything that you see on [the television show] CSI,\u201d she explains. \u201cThere were lots of \u2018crimes\u2019 that went on in our classroom, and we had to prove who did them and why.\u201d<\/p>\n

The experience led Van Dugteren to take AP biology, a decision that ultimately brought her to UConn.<\/p>\n

\u201cI knew biology was definitely what I wanted to do,\u201d she says. \u201cI thought I wanted to do research, but then I became an RA, and I realized how much I love people, so I wanted something more people-oriented\u2014which is nursing.\u201d<\/p>\n

A semester spent volunteering at Hartford Hospital reinforced that decision. \u201cI got to run around the ER, which was absolutely amazing,\u201d she says. \u201cIt\u2019s been helpful because I thought nursing was what I wanted to do, but you never really know until you\u2019re there. It\u2019s exactly what I want to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

This summer, Van Dugteren is spending a month in South Africa combining her love for biology and nursing. After a week volunteering in a rape clinic, soup kitchen, and homeless shelter with the nonprofit Come Back Mission, she will camp on a reserve for three weeks and track animals as part of a natural resources and the environment class in the fall semester.<\/p>\n

\u201cNursing is science-oriented,\u201d she says. \u201cBut from what I see, it\u2019s more about people. You have to love people and want \u00a0to be there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Van Dugteren brings the same \u00a0compassion and resolve to the WiMSE Learning Community.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s really important that we do what we do. It\u2019s a lot easier to live with people who understand what you\u2019re going through,\u201d she says. \u201cI think it\u2019s really important that they have each other to see that they\u2019re not alone.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ultimately, Van Dugteren wants to earn a graduate degree in nursing. \u201cI want to work in the nurseries. I like newborns. \u00a0But the ER is fascinating and always so exciting. I\u2019d like to get an internship in the nurseries to see how it compares.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A woman making a difference with math, science, and engineering.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":43591,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_crdt_document":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,2234],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[73],"class_list":["post-43424","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","category-university-life"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-13 06:01:29","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43424","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43424"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43424\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":200737,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43424\/revisions\/200737"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/43591"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43424"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43424"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43424"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=43424"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=43424"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}