Campus Conversation: Palmer Rowan
Posted on: February 18, 2022; Updated on: February 18, 2022
By Sophie Karapatakis, stucomm@mailbox.sc.edu
"I knew from the second I stepped foot in the Copenhaver Band Hall in the summer of 2019 that I wanted to be the drum major for the Carolina Band. Maybe I even knew I wanted it before then. I was drum major in high school, and I always thought about how badly I wanted to keep that experience a part of my life in college.
I didn’t always know that I wanted to be a nurse. I originally declared my major as biology, and switched over to nursing in the spring semester of my freshmen year. Being both an upper division nursing student and a drum major isn’t easy. I’m not sure the nursing program is necessarily designed to accommodate such a time commitment during football season. However, I have absolutely loved being a part of both.
Although it seems like one would certainly hinder my performance in the other, I really think my time in both is beneficial. Band certainly acts a nice distraction and break from the intense demands of upper division. It's so nice to have an hour and half 4 days a week where I truly get to just enjoy the music and forget about all the other stressors in my life. It’s almost therapeutic in a way. After each rehearsal and game day, I feel refreshed and ready to start back studying again. Nursing has had a beneficial impact on my position as drum major as well. Learning to communicate with my patients, instructors and fellow students in a way that is compassionate yet effective is certainly something that I try to translate on the field when I’m talking to fellow students in the Carolina Band. Also, so much of nursing is finding a way to conceptualize these broad medical concepts, really focus on the big picture, then draw ideas from that picture to think through the smaller details. That process really comes in handy as a drum major in terms of thinking about the small details in relation to the bigger picture I have in mind when conducting, spinning mace or even teaching.
Nursing is incredibly difficult, no matter where you decide to study it, but the instructional staff here at UofSC’s College of Nursing, from the professors to the preceptors, are so incredibly passionate about what they do. Every semester, they kick off syllabus day with same message: 'We believe you are intelligent, motivated to learn, care about what you are doing and want to improve.' They truly translate that message through their actions, and I am lucky to have access to all the resources this program has to offer.”
-Palmer Rowan, junior nursing major
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