FAYETTEVILLE -- Some University of Arkansas freshmen peered into each other's pupils and ears with the help of a bright pinpoint of light from a handheld device. They listened through a stethoscope to the simulated heartbeat of a computerized mannequin and felt for a pulse on the mannequin's ankle. Later, they practiced CPR on the mannequin.

The young women are participants in a living learning community sponsored by the Eleanor Mann School of Nursing and University Housing to bring students together who are interested in applying to nursing school the spring of their sophomore year. They were touring the simulation laboratory at the Epley Center for Health Professions. More photographs can be viewed on the Colleague website.

Brooke Huizenga, an academic advisor for the nursing school, is leading the group of pre-nursing students through regular activities throughout the year to help them learn more about the nursing profession and what nursing school will be like.

"In our meetings twice a month, we cover three things," Huizenga said. "The activities are designed to help the students explore the nursing profession, learn about community involvement, and explore and improve their personal skills."

She and several of the students also talked about the benefits of getting to know other students interested in nursing early in their college careers.

"I thought it would be a good opportunity to make friends with people who are also planning to major in nursing," said Madalyn Wallace, a student from Little Rock. "We can form study groups and be good resources for each other."

Students in the living learning community live in Reid Hall, which is close by the Epley Center for Health Professions, the home of the nursing school. All the students in the program this year are women.

The activities Huizenga planned have included the tour of the sim lab at the Epley Center and talks by other staff and faculty about the history of nursing, critical thinking, volunteering and sessions on study skills, teamwork and group dynamics in nursing, hands-only CPR and time management. Sessions planned for the spring semester will focus on various areas of the nursing field such as mental health, maternal health and delivery, and geriatrics, to include tours of a birthing center in Rogers and a mental health first aid course.

"The activities have been really, really helpful," Wallace said. "The tour of the Epley Center and the sim lab gave us a taste of what it will be like to be in nursing school. The activities have made me more interested in nursing."

Lindsey Sabatini, a clinical instructor of nursing, demonstrated features of the sim lab including how the sophisticated mannequins could be programmed from a computer in another room to exhibit various symptoms and react in certain ways, how to administer medication to the mannequins and how to check their vital signs.

The program is expected to benefit the students in several ways and also to improve retention at the university, Huizenga said, because of the way it helps students make the transition from high school to college. It gives them more contact at an earlier stage with nursing faculty and staff than pre-nursing students would ordinarily have, she said.

Heather Schneller, associate director for conferences in University Housing, applied for funding from the Division of Student Affairs to make activities for the living learning community possible, Huizenga said. The nursing school has doubled its enrollment in recent years to help fill the demand for qualified nurses, she said, and the university has supported the nursing school in several ways to make that possible, as has the College of Education and Health Professions, in which it is based.

Jessica Prost, a pre-nursing student from St. Louis, said Huizenga told her about the living learning community during freshman orientation. Her father is a nurse anesthetist and she knew she wanted to major in nursing.

"I decided I wanted to live around girls with the same major as me," Prost said. "I loved the sim lab (at the Epley Center). That visit made me sure about majoring in nursing. It was awesome."

Online applications will open for the 2014-15 living learning community in December with a priority deadline of Feb. 1 and a final consideration deadline of April 15. More information can be found on the University Housing website.