Female underrepresentation in the workplace has been an ongoing issue since the normalization of women pursuing careers. But in nursing, women have dominated the demographics, minimizing male nurses to a mere 9%.
BroCode is an MU organization formed to provide an outlet for this male minority in nursing to flourish through mentorship and an assortment of other pre-nursing resources. MU senior pre-nursing major Christian Campos is the president of the organization.
When golfing with a friend at 7 years old, Campos suffered a brain injury when he was setting up the tee. His friend took a practice swing and hit Campos in the head with a wedge.
“My nurses at the Children’s Hospital in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, really went above and beyond,” Campos said. “I want to go above and beyond for my patients like my nurses did for me.”
Aside from his injury motivating his career selection, Campos’ type 1 diabetes requires check-ups three times a year, so he is all too familiar with healthcare professionals, especially since his mom is also a nurse.
Campos transferred to MU after one semester at community college as a journalism major but switched to pre-nursing after he noticed he was enjoying his nursing classes more.
“I kept receiving advice to get involved, so I joined BroCode since it pertains to nursing,” he said. “The resources that the club offers, like what to expect when applying for clinicals, resume building and mock interviews, are really invaluable.”
Campos decided to run for BroCode president to further his involvement in the organization. Specifically, he said he wanted to arrange the meetings so that each one has an individual purpose.
“Last year the meetings were primarily Q&A style, but this year we have guest speakers and workshops for our members,” he said.
As president, Campos decided to broaden BroCode membership to health science majors as opposed to strictly pre-nursing majors. To offer this different perspective, senior health science major Ben Comfort is Campos’ vice president, and together the duo provides BroCode members with an assortment of information on opportunities in healthcare.
“Expanding BroCode to health science majors offers a perspective of nursing and everything else you can do, allowing our club to be as informative as possible,” Comfort said.
Alongside Campos, Comfort brings his personal clinical interview experience as well as his brother’s perspective from working in a hospital to BroCode members. Clinical interviews are the last step of the nursing application process and are conducted with two faculty members who are educators in the nursing school or professors of pre-nursing or health science.
“I want BroCode to be a really easy way to communicate with upperclassmen and give members information on different paths besides nursing,” he said.
BroCode meetings are on the first Monday of each month. The next meeting will be held on Oct. 7 at 6 p.m. in the Sinclair School of Nursing with a focus on volunteering, recommendations and opportunities.
_Edited by Ben Scott | bscott@themaneater.com_