on campus Community of future caregivers Nursing students support each other in freshman year

For Caiylea Gold, it was “a semester-long icebreaker.”

A freshman pre-nursing major at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, she lived, studied and spent free time with five other students in the Mocs Aspiring to Health and Science (MASH) Residential Learning Community.

“It was an icebreaker in meeting other members of our RLC.” They not only met each other, they became familiar with the campus says Gold, a native of Clarksville, Tennessee, and now a sophomore.

Starting fall semester 2021, the six-member group loaded their belongings into West Campus Housing. Like the 11 other on-campus learning communities the goal was to help freshmen ease into college life, face the same ups and downs and offer support to each other.

“It can drive students to open up and experience the campus and all it offers during their time here,” says Gold, who graduated from Rossview High School in Clarksville. “These offerings, in my mind, are only advantageous. Regardless of major, it can be nice to have a familiar group that you can reflect back on your semester with.”

Atlantic Coast High School.

This academic year, the number of students in the nursing RLC has increased to 15, says Tessa Mullinax-Baker, coordinator of the learning community and Mary B. Jackson clinical assistant professor in the School of Nursing.

RLC nursing students are from Tennessee cities such as Memphis, Jackson, Clarksville, Knoxville, Murfreesboro, Smyrna and Hendersonville, she says, although one is from Astoria, a neighborhood in Queens in New York City.

Several building blocks lay a foundation for student connection, Mullinax-Baker says.

“We have our core components—living, academics, mentoring, the social aspect, community and collaboration.”

In the 2022-2023 academic year, all RLC nursing students must take a first-year chemistry course, which encompasses both the academic and the living directives, Mullinax-Baker says.

“They're all in there together. Fifteen familiar faces. Someone in a major that's doing similar things and you're able to really study with and connect with,” she says.

To help them navigate the sometimes-frightening waters of freshman year, the students are assigned a peer mentor—usually an upper-class student in the School of Nursing who lives in West Campus— as well as a faculty mentor.

The mentors are beneficial, Gold says.

“The frequent updates from the professors and mentors associated with my major pushed me to keep up with my assignments,” she says.

Payne says he and his peer mentor have remained friends.

To maintain a social connection between the students, a family-style dinner open only to students and faculty is held each month, MullinaxBaker says.

“I learned how to use office hours to benefit myself. I learned the different types of resources that UTC offers, and I even branched out in the community of Chattanooga,” says Payne, who grew up in Jacksonville, Florida, and graduated from

Students also visited the Tennessee Aquarium, went out for ice cream and attended the Southern Conference basketball tournament in Asheville, North Carolina last spring.

“The students got to stay overnight in a hotel, and we went up on a bus together,” Mullinax-Baker says.

Social events gave her “a reason to come out of my dorm on days where I didn't necessarily have plans for myself,” Gold says.

To create community connections, the students volunteer at local nonprofits both on campus and off, including Scrappy’s Cupboard, MullinaxBaker says.

“One of the things that we've been doing this year is at the Hamilton County Snack Pack program for underserved students in the county school system. We go to pack those bags once a month,” she says.

The RLC nursing students often work with students in the UTC Department of Health and Human Performance and the School of Education, which, like the School of Nursing, fall under the College of Health, Education and Professional Studies.

“This is where the collaboration comes in. They're able to talk to both faculty and students from other majors,” says Mullinax-Baker.

With all that the School of Nursing Residential Learning Community has to offer, Payne says he “would recommend the RLC to any and everyone."

“This is a place to thrive and make sure you are on track and gives you a one-on-one with teachers and students. There are many RLCs out there, and you can find one that fits your style, and it will truly change you for the better.”