Lina Farnam

I am so excited and honored to be serving on the 2016-2017 CNSA State Board. The California Nursing Student Association is an organization created to help innovate nursing students to professionalism, through education, mentorship, activism, advocacy, stewardship, and leadership development. I appreciate and respect the vision and mission that CNSA stands for, which is why I took the initiative to further engage myself within the association. I believe that through my experience I will not only help guide students to success, but I will also further my leadership and critical thinking skills into my nursing career. These qualities within me will enable me to be successful and prosper, and I believe that CNSA's values will further foster my innate desire to improve my community and lift up the lives of the people with whom I interact, whether by implementing interventions to help take someones pain away or with even a smile.

My first hands-on medical experience came when I was accepted into UCLA’s Care Extenders Program, where I rotated through many departments. This was the perfect opportunity for me to observe how nurses work in the hospital environment and provided me a glimpse behind the job descriptions,  into their real roles, including everything from an investigator, to a vital asset for the medical team, to a cook and a friend. I volunteered for a year, and it was the highlight of my week - no matter how stressful school or my life was at that point, when I walked into the hospital, nothing else mattered except for the patients, my daily duties, and the new information I would learn from the medical staff. Through the program I learned a lot about myself. For starters, I learned that opportunities are unlikely to be available without dedicating oneself to reach the goal. I knew if I did not express my interest to learn and help the staff members, that I would most likely go unnoticed. This is when I learned to have a voice to speak up to make a difference. Next, I learned about myself as a leader. A leader does not stand for power over others, but instead they stand for motivation and guidance, with the strong belief that the individuals they are representing have the capabilities needed for a specific task. For these reasons, I decided to pursue a leadership position at my local CNSA chapter and now I take with honor the same position on the state level. This being said, I am motivated and excited to further my skills as a communicator, as a member of the health care field and as a role model my peers.

Goals for 2016-2017: 

• As Communications Director one of my main goals is reputation and relationship management. I plan to do this through promoting CNSA’s events and keeping all of our means of social media such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and the website up-to-date, therefore students always know when and where events being held.
• Reach out to campuses and see what we can do as a board to help the local chapters become successful within their memberships. 
• I want to make the numerous opportunities that CNSA has available known in order to help students take advantage of what we have to offer. With more awareness, there will be more involvement in CNSA.

I am available for any questions or concerns that you may have, so please do not hesitate to contact me or any of the other Board Members. I plan to build on my Communications Director Committee, so if you are interested to join the fun, please email me at [email protected].

Thank you and looking forward to a great year!!

Contact: [email protected]