The hard work and dedication of students of the school of nursing at Jefferson Davis Community College paid off for 25 graduates Monday night. With the special pinning ceremonies, those menn and women who committed more than two years of their life to the dream of becoming a nurse, realized that dream.
Lee Barrentine, director of student recruitment, said those who completed the stringent program should be proud of their accomplishment.
“We have a top-notch nursing program here at JDCC — and we are very proud of that,” Barrentine said. “When we received word recently that the accreditation team for the nursing program wouldn’t need to come back to our campus until 2017, we were thrilled at that news. That means we’re doing things right here at JDCC.”
The accreditation of the program at JDCC is further proof that instruction and training of nursing students at the college is done in a professional manner.
“We are proud of our teachers and what they do to help teach and train our nursing students,” Barrentine said. “Because of the dedication and attention of the teachers, JDCC graduates students who are ready to be nurses. There are many hospitals and other medical facilities that jump at the chance to employe one of our graduates. I think it’s because those employers know that our students get a high quality education and are put through strengent testing in order to graduate from the program. That’s something else we’re proud of here at JDCC — the employability of our nursing graduates.”
Nurses pinning ceremonies were held at the Woodfin-Patterson Auditorium on the JDCC campus Monday night. During the ceremony, 25 nurses received their pins signifying their graduation from the program.
Since the nursing program began at Jefferson Davis Community College in 1970, more than 1,200 nurses have graduated.
Graduates in the 2012 class include Samaria Boggan, Meredith Buck, Jess Cigalotti, Dee Clark, Jacqueline Creel, Julia Downing, Jamie Ellison, Scott Gillet, Afrah Haseeb, Neva Hill, Melanie Hines, Ebony McKenzie, Catherine McNally, Rachel Morgan, Garrett Morris, Laura Norwood, Kumi Ortiz, Angelique Owens, Frankye Peebles, Katherine Robinson, Kayla Seibel, Gail Stephen, Sarah Vardeman, Michelle Weaver and Kimberly Yeiter.
The annual Spirit of Nursing/Norma Hammac Rogers Award was presented to two students who tied for the honors for the 2012 graduating class. Melanie Hines and Kimberly Yeiter received the award during Monday’s ceremonies.