MILES CITY, MONTANA: Nursing Faculty Instructor Dani Hudson is currently in her fourth year of teaching at Miles Community College, where she feels completely at home
Hudson describes MCC’s welcoming atmosphere as “the small ‘community’ feeling you get,” and she believes this is key to helping both students and faculty thrive.
Raised in tiny Fallon, Montana, Hudson knows the advantages small communities bring, and she lists her first job as “Dad’s hired hand,” and still enjoys the outdoors and spending time with family. She loves to “play with kids and play recreational sports like volleyball, basketball, and softball.” She also likes to ride and rope—skills learned on the ranch—as well as fish, hike, and bake.
Though Hudson states that there’s “no typical day for me in the Nursing Program,” most Mondays and Tuesdays involve lectures and meetings. Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays are less predictable.
Hudson describes the latter part of the week as filled with “anything from simulations, clinicals, meetings with students, as well as other meetings for the college and Nursing Department.”
And weekends?
“My weekends are also filled, usually with answering student questions and testing for the students,” she says.
Hudson’s favorite class is also a challenge.
“Honestly, Pathophysiology has a love/hate relationship for me,” she says. “The material is interesting and keeps me engaged, but it can be difficult to teach.”
Describing herself as an “honest, blunt, passionate, competitive realist,” Hudson says that her best piece of advice is to “set boundaries and live the life you were meant to live.” And though she feels most at home in small communities, Hudson would also love to travel to Ireland and Scotland.
Once she gets her weekends back, that is.
