Student nurses wrap up stint at St. Patrick School with health fair

By Lethbridge Herald on November 28, 2025.

Brianna Milley, University of Lethbridge Nursing student showcases the five senses to Grade 2 students during a Wellness Fair Thursday at St. Patrick Fine Arts School.

Alejandra Pulido-Guzman
Lethbridge Herald

University of Lethbridge nursing students organized a Wellness Fair Thursday at St. Patrick Fine Arts School to culminate their community health rotation after being at the school since September. 

Kathy Jones-Husch, principal at St. Patrick Fine Arts School, said having the nursing students at the school for their rotation was a great learning opportunity for the kids. 

“They’ve had this partnership for a number of years, where teams of anywhere from seven to 12 nursing students join our staff and do projects specific to what the school community is looking for, as well as things that they think are important for young people to be exposed to,” said Jones-Husch. 

She said they talked about sleep, dental hygiene, caring for mental health, and a few more topics. 

“These nursing students work really hard and they’re super passionate about health and sharing that message with kids. They’ve just been awesome in the lessons that they built.”

Kids have been going home to share their lessons learned with their families have received a lot of positive feedback, said Jones-Husch. 

Melissa Campanella, University of Lethbridge clinical instructor for the community health rotation and registered nurse, said their clinical rotation goes for 12 weeks and they were at the school twice a week. 

“We have been doing different health initiatives each week, and this is our last week here,” said Campanella. 

As a wrap-up of their time there, they put up a wellness fair showcasing the different lessons they worked through. Campanella said nursing students benefit from the various placements in the community through their community health rotation, and they were grateful to be able to work with the kids at St. Patrick Fine Arts School. 

“I think it’s really beneficial for our students to interact with elementary students, as they have to learn to talk to all different ages.” 

She said the range of ages within the school and the fact that they had to go from one classroom to the next, interacting with kids at different stages of development, helped the nursing students to learn a lot. 

“They got to learn adaptability and change, and this community health rotation will follow them for their rest of their career.”

The education aspect goes both ways, as students at St. Patrick also learned from the nursing students, as Grade 2 student Evren Pollock shared. 

“I learned that different taste buds are in different places. I thought they were just all random all over,” he said, adding that he enjoyed the fair, and his favourite booth was the mental health boot,h “the worry one,” because it was fun, and it taught him that worries will go away. 

Jones-Husch said kids learning from this community health rotation with nursing students is a win for everyone. 

“As the kids get older, the more they know themselves and they can take some ownership about their own Wellness habits that it’s a win for everybody.”

She added that it’s a fitting addition to their Wellness learning at the school through their health class, as they get that input from someone else, someone who is a professional in another capacity. 

“I think that has a lot of merits. And when we partner with community, we’re bringing more people together to the table.”