Before the First Day of Class, Westcliff University’s College of Nursing Made Sure its Newest Students Were Ready

Starting a nursing program is not a small decision. It requires preparation, intention and a willingness to do the work even when it gets difficult. On Friday, April 25, 40 incoming students in the Bachelor of Science in Nursing program at Westcliff University’s College of Nursing took their first official step into that journey at the New Student Orientation (NSO), held at the Corona campus. 

The NSO was designed to do one thing above all else: make sure that when students walk through the door on day one of their program, they are not figuring things out on their own.

The morning brought together faculty, staff and an incoming cohort that arrived with a mix of excitement, nerves and the kind of personal motivation that tends to show up in people drawn to nursing. Before a single lecture had been delivered or a clinical rotation scheduled, Westcliff made sure these students had the tools, the contacts and the confidence to hit the ground running.

Christina Powers, Senior Director of Student Affairs, said the intent behind the NSO is straightforward but important.

“They’re going to get to know the other students in their cohort, learn a lot of important academic resources and really just learn what they need to know to get started successfully on day one of their program,” Powers said. “I think they’re excited and a little nervous, but everybody’s ready to go.”

By mid-morning, the Corona campus felt less like an orientation and more like a program already in motion. Students moved between sessions, introduced themselves to classmates they would soon be studying alongside and began building the kind of familiarity that makes a demanding program feel a little more navigable.

More Than an Orientation, a Head Start

The NSO was built to cover a lot of ground, and it did. Students arrived, got their professional headshots taken and were walked through the process of setting up and logging into the student account platforms they would rely on throughout the program. From there, sessions covered the academic resources available to them, including the university library and digital research tools, as well as financial aid guidance that gave several students answers to questions they had been carrying around for weeks.

Candee Perez is an incoming BSN student and current certified nursing assistant making the move to her bachelor’s degree. She came in with questions about payment plans and left with more than just answers.

“They helped me feel a lot better. I’m excited. I’m nervous. I have a lot of feelings and emotions,” Perez said. “I was just asking about financial aid, some of the questions I had regarding payment plans, and they helped me feel a lot better.”

The NSO also gave students their first detailed look at what the program’s clinical rotations would look like, including the range of locations where they would complete their hands-on training. For Victoria Gonzalez, an incoming student transitioning from a background in psychology and phlebotomy, that information reframed how she was thinking about the road ahead.

“I learned that there’s going to be various locations that we’re going to go to for our clinicals. They can be close or they can be far, but they’re working on getting some amazing places for us to be able to fulfill our requirements,” Gonzalez said. “This is where my beginning starts.”

The People Who Show Up Before You Even Start

Starting a nursing program comes with a long list of unknowns, and Westcliff made it a point to shorten that list before the first class ever meets. Staff were on hand throughout the day to answer questions, address concerns and make sure every student left with a clear picture of what comes next. That kind of direct access to the people behind the program is not something every university prioritizes at orientation, and it showed in how students carried themselves by the end of the morning.

Christopher Calderon, Sr. Student Services Advisor, said the structure of the day was built around making sure students left with more than just a schedule.

“We’re going to get into information about the library, programming, their accounts, just a bunch of information,” Calderon said. “We got 40 newbies.”

Kendra Moore had toured other schools before arriving at the Corona campus Friday. What she found here shifted her perspective in a way she was not fully expecting going in.

“I’ve actually toured other schools before and I walked in and I was just like, this is a really, really good school. I can just tell,” Moore said. “The vibe in here is really cool.”

That is what the NSO is built to do — give incoming students a foundation sturdy enough to stand on when the hard work begins.

Why They Chose Nursing and Why They Chose Westcliff

The incoming cohort brought with them a range of backgrounds and an equally wide range of reasons for choosing nursing. What they shared was a clear sense of why they were there. Moore, a Rancho Cucamonga resident who spent considerable time researching programs before landing on Westcliff, did not have to look far for her motivation.

“I’ve watched my dad go through a lot of health problems growing up. I just want to help people that are not able to help themselves,” Moore said. “I found Westcliff University and I knew it was the right fit.”

Michael Smith came to the NSO with a specific focus already in mind. After researching programs through the California Board of Nursing and deciding on a psychiatric nursing path, Friday was less of an introduction to nursing and more of a starting gun.

“Nervous. Excited. A long time coming,” Smith said. “I’m ready.”

That sentiment ran through the room. Students who had spent months or years preparing for this program, some coming from healthcare roles like Perez and Gonzalez and others coming from entirely different fields, arrived at the Corona campus Friday morning and found a university that had prepared just as hard to receive them.

A Program Designed to Take You All the Way

The Bachelor of Science in Nursing at Westcliff University’s College of Nursing is a pre-licensure program designed to prepare graduates for the demands of modern health care, with a curriculum that balances rigorous academic coursework with hands-on clinical training across a variety of real-world settings. Students are supported from orientation through graduation by a team of faculty and staff who are invested in their success.

The program is housed at Westcliff’s Corona campus, a modern facility built with the needs of health sciences students in mind. From its simulation labs to its collaborative study spaces, the campus gives nursing students an environment designed to support the kind of focused, intensive learning the profession demands. 

Friday’s NSO was a glimpse of that support in action, and for 40 new students, it was exactly the start they needed.

If you are considering a career in nursing, the first step starts here. Learn more about the BSN program and explore the Corona campus at westcliff.edu/nursing.