In Spring 2017 I took the Microbiology for the Healthcare Profession as it was a requirement for nursing.  However, I decided to enhance the course in order to make it an honors credit.  During my time in this class I had the opportunity to study diseases that I will experience first hand in the hospital these include: MRSA, Clostridium Difficile, Escherichia Coli, and many more.  This by far has been my favorite class at Longwood as I have a love Biology as it is my minor (which I just finished after this microbiology course), combined with my love for the healthcare profession.  We learned how these different disease effect the body, and how the body deals with these diseases internally.  For example, we learned that Helicobacter causes inflammation of the gut.  This can lead to major stomach ulcer issues.  However, we also learned about inflammation, and the biology behind the process.  I enjoyed learning about the diseases and how they relate to the health care profession so much that I did a research project with a few other honors students on knowledge retention amongst nursing health care professionals.  We sent out a study to the individual nurses and hospitals.  The survey consisted of biology and aseptic technique questions.  We found that the longer the health care professional was in school for the higher they scored overall.  However, we found that the nurses such as CNAs/Nurse Techs scored higher on aseptic techniques as they are the ones dealing with aseptic technique on a daily basis.  I am very thankful I had the opportunity to take this course, especially since this was the last semester Dr. Buckalew was teaching at the university.  Although this class was challenging at times between studying for the regular class, and balancing time with research it was a wonderful learning opportunity, and I hope others in the future choose to enhance this course as well!