One Year in, Westcliff’s Inaugural BSN Cohort is Ready for the Real Work

A year ago, they were the newcomers. They were the first students to ever set foot inside Westcliff University’s College of Nursing, the inaugural cohort of a program that was just finding its footing. They picked up tote bags, took headshots and sat through icebreakers as the building buzzed with the energy of something brand new.

This week, Westcliff’s College of Nursing welcomed its first-ever Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) cohort back to the Corona, Calif. campus for the BSN Core-Students New Student Orientation, marking a milestone that no class before them had ever reached: the transition from foundational coursework into core nursing. The prerequisites are behind them. The scrubs are fitted. Core nursing begins now.

A Year in the Making

When this cohort first enrolled, they were signing up for something that had never been done before at Westcliff. They spent the past year working through the foundational science and general education courses that build the academic backbone every nursing student needs before they can step into the clinical world.

Jocelyn Serna, one of the students in the cohort, first heard about Westcliff the way a lot of life-changing decisions begin: through a casual moment. Her mother spotted the campus while driving past a shopping center and suggested she look into it. She did, and she has not looked back since.

“It’s the start of my career. The start of my life. A new journey and I’m happy to be in this next stage of it,” Serna said.

For Serna, the path to nursing was never in question. A family member’s health condition set her compass early and pointed it firmly in this direction. “I knew since day one I was like, I’m gonna be a nurse, I’m gonna help people,” she said.

She completed most of her prerequisites online, which made orientation day feel that much more significant. Walking back into the Corona campus, she was not prepared for what she found inside. “It’s really amazing. It was not what I was expecting coming in here,” Serna said. “I thought it was going to be like a classroom, that’s it. But it blew my mind, especially their sim lab.”

That reaction was not unique to her.

Still Together, Still Moving Forward

One of the quiet but powerful things about this cohort is what the past year did to them as a group. They came in as strangers navigating a new school, a new city and a new chapter of their lives. They leave fundamentals as something closer to a unit.

Isaac Gomez did not hesitate when asked whether the people around him had made a difference. “I’ve actually been having a really great time learning and I’m excited to start my core,” he said. “I have met a lot of cool people. Connor and Jocelyn, I’ve had them in all my classes so far and they’re starting the cohort with me, so we’re just going to keep going through this all together.”

That sense of continuity mattered on orientation day. These students were not meeting each other for the first time, but were picking up where they left off, now with a shared year of coursework behind them and a shared road ahead.

Conner Buwalda, another member of the cohort, described his path to nursing the way people describe something that was never really a choice. “I just like helping people. I’ve been born into this role,” he said. “My parents and family have a lot of people in the nursing program, a lot of people in the hospitals. I was just born for this.”

He came into orientation carrying both nerves and excitement in equal measure, which is probably the most honest way to describe how the entire room felt. “Kind of nervous, kind of excited. Mixed both,” Buwalda said.

Getting Ready for What Comes Next

BSN Core-Students Orientation was not just a formality. Students spent time in the classroom getting an in-depth look at what core nursing demands, covering everything from dress code expectations to the study tools and academic resources available to help them succeed.

One session that stood out was the introduction to ATI, a comprehensive study and assessment program designed to help students identify their weak points and prepare for the NCLEX exam at the end of their program. Gomez admitted the session caught him off guard at first.

“It was really intimidating at first, I will say, but it definitely improved at the end of it,” he said. “I understood a lot better. It’s like a study program for all of us to target our weak points and just help us pass. At the end of the day, everyone wants to pass, so that would be the best resource that we got for it.”

Comfort Ajeakwa echoed that appreciation for the practical information the day provided. Beyond ATI, students learned where to upload their required health documents, how to get their physical exams and vaccines in order and what systems they would need to navigate as full-time nursing students. “Definitely because we wouldn’t know where to upload all those documents if not,” Ajeakwa said of the session.

Between the classroom time and the logistics, students also got fitted for their clinical uniforms, a moment that carried more weight than a simple wardrobe check. Putting on scrubs for the first time is the kind of thing that makes it real.

Darrin Bowers, manager of simulated learning at Westcliff’s College of Nursing, summed up what the day meant for students. “They came today to get their essentials and to start their core program with everything they needed. The incredible people at the Corona campus made sure every student walked out of here feeling prepared and ready to go.”

But underneath the logistics was something harder to put into a checklist. This cohort was crossing a threshold.

Pioneers, Still

When Westcliff’s College of Nursing held its very first orientation, this cohort walked in as pioneers. A year later, they are stepping into the real nursing world they have been working toward.

Being the first cohort to complete a full year of fundamentals and advance into core nursing at Westcliff’s College of Nursing is not a minor footnote. Every student who comes after them will look at this group as the ones who showed it could be done, that the program works and that the road through it leads somewhere real.

“Serna understood that from early on, describing what it means to be part of the first cohort. ‘Setting that stepping stone for the rest of the cohorts,’ she said. ‘Just a new experience for everybody.'”

The students in this cohort are expected to graduate in December 2027. The scrubs are fitted. The books are picked up. Core nursing starts now.

For more information on Westcliff’s College of Nursing, please visit westcliff.edu/nursing.