Experiences on Campus and at Wendover
With roots tracing back to the early 1900s, Frontier Nursing University (FNU) is a school rich in history. The “FNU Traditions” blog series will give the friends and family of FNU a greater understanding of our many traditions, several of which date back to the days of our founder, Mary Breckinridge.
FNU founder Mary Breckinridge not only traveled throughout the mountains of Eastern Kentucky aiding underserved families, but she opened up her own home as well. Besides holding an annual Christmas party for hundreds of local people , she also regularly had nurses in the district join her in her log cabin for meals and fellowship.
Today, this tradition continues as FNU students are invited to Breckinridge’s home in Leslie County, KY, the Wendover Bed & Breakfast Inn. These special student dinner events occur during two educational sessions on campus. The first of the on campus sessions is named “Frontier Bound” as it is the initial welcome into the FNU community, prior to classes beginning (this orientation is called “Bridge Bound” for students who are admitted through the ADN Bridge Entry Option and “DNP Bound” for students in the Post-Master’s DNP program). The second on campus session, “Clinical Bound” is held after didactic classes are completed and prior to beginning the clinical experience.
Here are just a few traditions students and faculty take part in on campus and during the Wendover dinners:
Singing Amazing Grace: Meals at Wendover begin with students and faculty singing Amazing Grace, just as Mary Breckinridge and her guests did before every meal.
Bell Ringing: At the end of each Bound week before returning home, students circle around the chapel and take turns one-by-one ringing a bell to signify the beginning of a new chapter. At the end of Frontier Bound, it signifies the beginning of their journey as a student, and the end of Clinical Bound it signifies the beginning of their journey in Clinical work. Many students who come back for graduation will ring it one last time to mark the beginning of their career.
Circle-Up: The “Circle-Up” session is a Frontier Nursing University tradition that students, faculty, and staff have participated in for decades. At the end of each campus experience, students, faculty and staff join hands to form a circle. Each person in the circle is invited to reflect or share their thoughts, emotions or take-away points from the event they have just experienced. It is a time to share inspiring words and show appreciation to one another and to the Frontier experience as a whole. Circling up is based upon an old Quaker tradition of taking a moment at the end of the day to share their thoughts with the community. As part of the FNU community, circling up continues virtually from home as a show of support when needed by members of the FNU community.
Follies at Bound: When the Community -based Nurse Midwifery Program (CNEP) distance education program started with an orientation in Pennsylvania, Kitty Ernst, a midwifery and maternity care pioneer and early graduate of Frontier’s nurse-midwifery program, was determined to encourage team building amongst the students. Since that time, all students and faculty that come to campus for Frontier Bound have to work together in teams to perform some sort of skit or performance to the group. Many of our students have developed life-long friendships from this fun team building activity.
Wide Neighborhoods Reading: The students return to Wendover during Clinical Bound for dinner. After dinner, faculty and students gather in the historic living room underneath Mary Breckinridge’s portrait. Faculty then read excerpts from Mrs. Breckinridge’s book, Wide Neighborhoods. The selected words help students reflect and focus on why they want to go into healthcare and how they are each a part of Mrs. Breckinridge’s mission and vision of service.
Giving of Hats, Scarves & Blankets: Years ago, the Daughters of the Colonials War took time to knit hats for the babies Frontier served. Today, the tradition continues as each Nurse-Midwife student is given a baby hat at the “Clinical Bound” dinner ceremony before Clinicals begin. The hat is then given to the first baby they help deliver. The student presents the mother with the baby cap and tells the story of the Frontier Nursing Service and Mary Breckinridge. Later Frontier added he Family Nurse Practitioner program and with the help of Dr. Anne Wasson the tradition continued by presenting each FNP student a lap blanket to give to an elderly client they connect with and share the story of FNS and Mrs Breckinridge. Extending the tradition, Women’s Health Nurse Practitioner students are given a hand knitted scarf to share with a client they have connected with and share the story of FNU.
These are just a few of the many traditions that weave the Frontier Nursing University community together. Stay tuned for more Frontier traditions, coming soon!
Learn more about FNU Traditions in Part 2.
Carrie Belin is an experienced board-certified Family Nurse Practitioner and a graduate of the Johns Hopkins DNP program, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Georgetown University School of Nursing, and Johns Hopkins School of Nursing. She has also completed fellowships at Georgetown and the University of California Irvine.
Angie has been a full-scope midwife since 2009. She has experience in various birth settings including home, hospital, and birth centers. She is committed to integrating the midwifery model of care in the US. She completed her master’s degree in nurse-midwifery at Frontier Nursing University (FNU) and her Doctorate at Johns Hopkins University. She currently serves as the midwifery clinical faculty at FNU. Angie is motivated by the desire to improve the quality of healthcare and has led quality improvement projects on skin-to-skin implementation, labor induction, and improving transfer of care practices between hospital and community midwives. In 2017, she created a short film on skin-to-skin called 
Justin C. Daily, BSN, RN, has ten years of experience in nursing. At the start of his nursing career, Justin worked as a floor nurse on the oncology floor at St. Francis. He then spent two years as the Director of Nursing in a small rural Kansas hospital before returning to St. Francis and the oncology unit. He has been in his current position as the Chemo Nurse Educator for the past four years. He earned an Associate in Nurse from Hutchinson Community College and a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Bethel College.
Brandy Jackson serves as the Director of Undergraduate Nursing Programs and Assistant Educator at Wichita State University and Co-Director of Access in Nursing. Brandy is a seasoned educator with over 15 years of experience. Before entering academia, Brandy served in Hospital-based leadership and Critical Care Staff nurse roles. Brandy is passionate about equity in nursing education with a focus on individuals with disabilities. Her current research interests include accommodations of nursing students with disabilities in clinical learning environments and breaking down barriers for historically unrepresented individuals to enter the nursing profession. Brandy is also actively engaged in Interprofessional Education development, creating IPE opportunities for faculty and students at Wichita State. Brandy is an active member of Wichita Women for Good and Soroptimist, with the goal to empower women and girls. Brandy is a TeamSTEPPS master trainer. She received the DASIY Award for Extraordinary Nursing Faculty in 2019 at Wichita State University. 
Dr. Sabrina Ali Jamal-Eddine is an Arab-disabled queer woman of color with a PhD in Nursing and an interdisciplinary certificate in Disability Ethics from the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC). Dr. Jamal-Eddine’s doctoral research explored spoken word poetry as a form of critical narrative pedagogy to educate nursing students about disability, ableism, and disability justice. Dr. Jamal-Eddine now serves as a Postdoctoral Research Associate in UIC’s Department of Disability and Human Development and serves on the Board of Directors of the National Organization of Nurses with Disabilities (NOND). During her doctoral program, Sabrina served as a Summer Fellow at a residential National Endowment of the Humanities (NEH) Summer Institute at Arizona State University (2023), a summer fellow at Andrew W. Mellon’s National Humanities Without Walls program at University of Michigan (2022), a Summer Research Fellow at UC Berkeley’s Othering & Belonging Institute (2021), and an Illinois Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental and related Disabilities (LEND) trainee (2019-2020).
Vanessa Cameron works for Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nursing Education & Professional Development. She is also attending George Washington University and progressing towards a PhD in Nursing with an emphasis on ableism in nursing. After becoming disabled in April 2021, Vanessa’s worldview and perspective changed, and a recognition of the ableism present within healthcare and within the culture of nursing was apparent. She has been working since that time to provide educational foundations for nurses about disability and ableism, provide support for fellow disabled nursing colleagues, and advocate for the disabled community within healthcare settings to reduce disparities.
Dr. Lucinda Canty is a certified nurse-midwife, Associate Professor of Nursing, and Director of the Seedworks Health Equity in Nursing Program at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. She earned a bachelor’s degree in nursing from Columbia University, a master’s degree from Yale University, specializing in nurse-midwifery, and a PhD from the University of Connecticut. Dr. Canty has provided reproductive health care for over 29 years. Her research interests include the prevention of maternal mortality and severe maternal morbidity, reducing racial and ethnic health disparities in reproductive health, promoting diversity in nursing, and eliminating racism in nursing and midwifery.
Dr. Lisa Meeks is a distinguished scholar and leader whose unwavering commitment to inclusivity and excellence has significantly influenced the landscape of health professions education and accessibility. She is the founder and executive director of the DocsWithDisabilities Initiative and holds appointments as an Associate Professor in the Departments of Learning Health Sciences and Family Medicine at the University of Michigan.
Dr. Nikia Grayson, DNP, MSN, MPH, MA, CNM, FNP-C, FACNM (she/her) is a trailblazing force in reproductive justice, blending her expertise as a public health activist, anthropologist, and family nurse-midwife to champion the rights and health of underserved communities. Graduating with distinction from Howard University, Nikia holds a bachelor’s degree in communications and a master’s degree in public health. Her academic journey also led her to the University of Memphis, where she earned a master’s in medical anthropology, and the University of Tennessee, where she achieved both a master’s in nursing and a doctorate in nursing practice. Complementing her extensive education, she completed a post-master’s certificate in midwifery at Frontier Nursing University.
Dr. Tia Brown McNair is the Vice President in the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Student Success and Executive Director for the Truth, Racial Healing, and Transformation (TRHT) Campus Centers at the American Association of Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) in Washington, DC. She oversees both funded projects and AAC&U’s continuing programs on equity, inclusive excellence, high-impact practices, and student success. McNair directs AAC&U’s Summer Institutes on High-Impact Practices and Student Success, and TRHT Campus Centers and serves as the project director for several AAC&U initiatives, including the development of a TRHT-focused campus climate toolkit. She is the lead author of From Equity Talk to Equity Walk: Expanding Practitioner Knowledge for Racial Justice in Higher Education (January 2020) and Becoming a Student-Ready College: A New Culture of Leadership for Student Success (July 2016 and August 2022 Second edition).