The three International TRU nursing students volunteering with the Big Brothers Big Sisters of Williams Lake’s Go Girls! group mentoring program will go on to take their preceptorships in June.
The preceptorships could be in hospitals or care facilities anywhere in the province.
Simblejeet Gill came to Canada from India in 2015 and is in the second year of the Licenced Practical Nursing program at Thompson Rivers University in Williams Lake.
“I was going to go to TRU Kamloops but TRU Williams Lake offered me a practicum clinic,” Gill said.
Juliet Offor is from Nigeria.
She immigrated to Canada in 2013 and finished high school in Fort St. John.
She then took the care aid program in Dawson Creek and after working for a while in that field started the LPN program at TRU in Williams Lake in January 2016.
She may serve her preceptorship in Dawson Creek or Grand Prairie where she has friends.
Originally from Chandigarh in Punjab India, Aman Kaur came to Canada in September 2015.
She took a three month pre-practical course before being enrolled in the LPN program at TRU in January 2016. In addition to her schooling she also works at the Seniors Village as a health care aid and food server.
“I will be doing my preceptorship here in Williams Lake and plan to live in Canada and work as a nurse,” Kaur says.
“In the future I would like to become a dentist, I want to study more and more.”
Kaur said she had a most amazing time being a mentor with the Go Girls! program.
“Being a part of Go Girls! is like having little sisters playing all around me,” Kaur says.
“The best thing about the program is the togetherness. We’d eat together, play together, laugh together, and we had times where we supported one another.
“We shared everything with each other. The bond we all made is forever!”
At the request of students, two eight-week Go Girls! after school mentoring sessions were held for girls at the Lake City Secondary School Columneetza Campus last fall and this winter.
For BBBS Williams Lake mentoring co-ordinator Tasha Pilkington having TRU nursing students participate in the group mentoring program was also a positive experience.
“When I walk into the room and see all the kids and mentors laughing, smiling, and having fun, it makes me happy to have been able to watch all their friendships grow.
“Seeing the positive impact that the mentors have made on the kids is really amazing. The goal of Go Girls! and Game On! (for boys) is to help shape positive self-image and build self-esteem. In both groups, I have seen a tremendous change in each child that has participated. It is truly a great reminder of how important having a mentor in an adolescent’s life can be.”