Welcome to Winter
As we are getting ready for the Holidays, I reflect on all my blessings, and many are due to all who I have met through Nu Upsilon and SIGMA. I am so grateful for the wonderful leadership and volunteers who have helped reshape our chapter into a more vibrant and inclusive chapter. Many of these would not have been possible without the work of many others who volunteered their time and talents. To date, in 2024, we have inducted 693 new members. Our goal is to engage all our members, to provide service and opportunity. To that end, here is a brief look at what is coming and what we have accomplished!
Leadership Interns...Starting in January 2025, we will have a call for Leadership Interns. This is a competitive volunteer position for eligible, and Nu Upsilon members to gain leadership experience. The ideal candidate will work with different leaders of Nu Upsilon to learn aspects of running a not-for-profit organization. Minimum commitment is 6 months. Please keep an eye out on our website for more information in early January!
Mentoring Committee...Starting in January 2025, our mentoring committee will be accepting requests for mentors from GCU senior pre-licensure and graduate nursing students and Nu Upsilon members who are early professionals. This will be an informal, virtual mentor/mentee relationship. We have a dynamic group of volunteers eager to mentor. Mentees must be eligible for Nu Upsilon membership. Look for more details on our website in early January!
Nu Upsilon Cares Award...Our Awards and Scholarship Committee proposed adding the Nu Upsilon Cares Award, a one-time grant to help alleviate the hardship membership dues may cause a new member. This passed unanimously by our board of directors and has already gone into effect.
Doubling the Grants we offer...Additionally, our Awards and Scholarship Committee proposed doubling the grants we offer each year, dividing the grants between educational scholarships for members who are current students and professional development grants to help our members present their work or complete research/quality improvement projects. Our call for scholarship grants ended on October 30, and the winners will be announced in mid-December. Our call for applications for our professional development awards will be Spring, 2025. Our Nu Upsilon Cares Grant is on a rolling basis. More information on all these opportunities will be found on our website.
Service Projects...In 2024, we also assisted with or served in several service projects.
- January started our educational webinars.
- February, we led the first on-campus Heart Health Day, providing free ‘Hands-Only CPR’ for students and faculty at our sponsoring university – Grand Canyon University.
- February also saw the start of our “Connecting, Collaborating, and Caring” monthly calls with our chapter president and special guests. We have had webinars presented on topics requested by our members. We have also partnered with Omicron Delta to provide CEs for certain sessions. These meetings are on the 4th Tuesday of the month at 5 PM Arizona time. More information on our website.
- In March, we participated in the American Heart Association Heart Walk with teams across the US.
- April, we celebrated our 30th Anniversary as a SIGMA chartered chapter with some of our founding members and leaders with in-person and virtual induction ceremonies.
- After the summer break, we came together again in August to volunteer at GCU CityServe. This not-for-profit works with many different agencies to provide household goods, clothing, and essentials to those less fortunate. See some of our pictures on our website!
- In October, we had additional wonderful in-person and virtual induction ceremonies. We also participated in the National Alzheimer Walks, with teams representing Nu Upsilon across the country.
- December, we look forward to our next virtual induction. We are so very blessed for all our members.