Strangely enough, the end of summer is one of my favorite times of year-you know, those last few weeks that are squeezed in between the family summer vacation and the beginning of school. The closets get organized and replenished, school supplies are purchased and there is a mad scramble to finish up the last book (or two) on the summer reading list. We make the rounds of dentist, orthodontist, hairdresser and the final pediatrician sign-off for fall soccer. It is the annual ritual of getting my daughters, my home and myself organized for the new school year. It is a time of change and transition that I embrace and enjoy.

These rituals have an important place in our life, giving us a sense of the changing seasons and a secure feeling in knowing what we can expect and look forward to tomorrow.

Our work life as a nurse is much the same in that patterns of events and activities reappear with a predictable regularity. In many health care organizations, next year's capital (equipment) and operating budgets are being completed and winter staffing planning is under way. JCAHO and annual evaluations recur on schedule. Not many nurses I know think these events are much to look forward to; however, some changes of the season one can get enthused about.

If you are lucky, soon you will greet another wave of new nursing students eager and ready for their fall clinical rotations. Whether it is their first clinical rotation or their last, these students expect and deserve to find warm and enthusiastic colleagues who will teach, guide and support them on their journey into and throughout nursing. While their clinical instructor will have an undeniable influence on the student experience, he or she is far less influential than you and your peers at the bedside. You will make (or break) that nursing student's experience, provide a strong (or weak) foundation for their clinical practices and shape their positive (or negative) views on the profession. Yep, you really are that important. Just ask any nursing student.

If my message weighs heavy on your shoulders, good! It should. In recent years, attrition from nursing schools, particularly in the first year, has been a major problem. And this attrition cannot be blamed on academic failure. Students who threw in the towel early tell us that it is what they heard from practicing nurses that convinced them they had made a bad career choice. We discouraged them from nursing, and as a result we suffer today because of it.

As part of the fall ritual for nursing, let's roll out the welcome wagon and give today's students the experience of a lifetime. Show them the best of nursing. Lead them down the hall, into a patient's room and into the surgery suite. Give them every bit of real experience you can find, and offer to stay connected and mentor them beyond their rotation on your unit. Who knows? They might have such a great experience, they'll be back for more after graduation.

Making the investment in mentoring and educating our own is good not only for the profession, it's good for the soul.

Discuss this and other topics with your colleagues at www.nurseweek.com/rnvillage.