Guys & Dogs: The first-ever MAN Club calendar
Mr. April is second year Matt Minero (BSN `20), who’s earning a kiss from terrier-lab mix "Lola."
Dalmations "D'arcy" and "Sibbie" saunter beside Mr. December, Adam Williams (BSN `19).
There are two Mr. Septembers, brothers Ricardo and Rafael Diaz (BSN `20, BSN `21), who pose on the Scott Stadium turf with "Buster Brown," owned by Student Financial Services staffers Sarah and Chris Doran.
And Mr. November, Army nurse Aaron Matthews (DNP `19), poses with chocolate brown pointer "Kona" on the Rotunda steps.
After re-emerging as a student group in early 2017, UVA’s MAN Club – that’s Men Advancing Nursing, a group of 20 men and women hoping to build robust dialogue about men’s health issues in the School and community at large – is poised to make its mark. The 13-month 2018 calendar – which offers a series of portraits of UVA’s many male nursing students and the dogs belonging to UVA faculty and staff – is currently on sale for $15.
The calendar was the brainchild of MAN club members Josh Moore (BSN `17), Billy Burris (BSN `19) and its current acting president, Ryan Thomas (BSN `20), and offers a new twist on its less wholesome cousin, the firefighters’ calendars (proffered by cash-strapped cities and towns and featuring men in uniform in various states of dress). In order to fund MAN Club’s hoped-for activities, the trio determined that a novel approach might be necessary.
“We had a ton of ideas about the activities we wanted to support,” explains Thomas, of Loudoun County, Va., “but not much experience in fundraising. We looked at T-shirts, decals, monogrammed hoodies, or insulated mugs, but felt like those items got lost in the crowd. The calendar was our calculated risk; our hope is that people will see it, get interested, remember us – and maybe buy one.”
So far, pre-orders for the inaugural 2018 MAN Club calendar have been brisk; after selling 30 at Family Weekend, the group’s already sold more than 100. Over the next three weeks, MAN Club student volunteers plan to sell the calendars at Newcomb Hall’s food court, at UVA Medical Center’s cafeteria, in the School of Nursing, and, of course, online. All proceeds will benefit the Club; a portion of the proceeds will go to the Charlottesville-Albemarle SPCA.
MAN Club members also say the calendar’s their chance to offer a modern portrait of nursing, one that’s inclusive and diverse.
Nationally, about nine percent of professional nurses are male. At UVA School of Nursing, 15 percent of the study body is male: just over 10 percent of undergraduates and more than 20 percent of graduate students.
“We want to build conversations around men’s health here and fortify mentoring relationships between our nursing students and male nurses,” explains the group’s advisor Adam Seid, who’s also the School of Nursing’s director of graduate admission and financial aid. “And, of course, we want people to remember not to make assumptions about who can be a nurse, pointing out too that, as a career choice, nursing’s a field that’s open to exceptional people, regardless of their gender.”
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The 2018 MAN Club Calendar may be ordered online; copies are also for sale through club advisor Adam Seid. Questions? 434-924-0067.