Nursing graduates make history at BC
Miller, area grads among 20 honored in Pinning Ceremony

(Seated, L-R) ADN Program Director Faith Garrett, ADN Program Director, Cheryl Ogden, Jamesica Perry, Brooke Bailey, Amanda Passalacqua, Ashlie Henley, Alicia Ponder, Shalonda Sanders, Instructor Maria Mock, Instructor Sheree Dickenson; (middle row) Jennifer Dykes, Instructor Betty Huskey, Natosha Manning, Jennifer Fulton, Jessica Turner, Heather Mock, Gina Pitts, Linda Taylor, Instructor Rhonda Payne; (back) Troy Fulton, Tessie Brackins, Johanna Roland, Sharon Humphrey, Grace Holt, Suzanne Fox.

Twenty students, including Miller County area residents and a husband and wife, made Bainbridge College (BC) history as the first graduates of the Associate Degree of Nursing (ADN) Program that started in January 2006.

With almost every seat filled at First Presbyterian Church in Bainbridge, the August 4 ceremonies featured student and faculty speeches that rated standing ovations. For the inaugural Pinning Ceremony, ADN students unanimously selected as their keynote speaker the person who knew them best, ADN Program Director Faith Garrett. She spoke of their sheer determination and iron will, team effort and family support and encouragement that had brought them to this milestone.

They missed family events and hours of sleep, spending long days of clinical work and intense studies to prepare them to help the vulnerable who are sick and suffering, she said. She enumerated some of their work load - over 150,000 pages to read and study, 700-800 hours in developing patient care plans, at least a thousand in commuting to and from classes and clinical assignments, "and 50 very difficultexams that make or break - and you made it."

ADN graduates from Miller County are Jennifer Dykes, who won an award, Ashlie Henley and Shalonda Sanders.

After the invocation by John Bailey, husband of graduate Brooke Bailey of Whigham, Vice President of Academic Affairs Dr. Rob Gingras addressed the gathering. Graduate Johanna Roland, president of Bainbridge Association of Nursing Students (BANS), gave a humorous and at times tearful inside look at life as a nursing student. She said they had entered the program as individuals, "and today we leave of one accord. Today we leave as nurses."

The graduates, who are eligible to sit for the exam to become registered nurses, received distinctive pins designed exclusively for the BC ADN program. ADN faculty members assisting Director Garrett in the pinning and awards presentations were Sheree Dickenson, Betty Huskey, Maria Mock and Rhonda Payne, who gave the introduction to begin the program.

For the International Pledge of Nurses, led by Instructor Betty Huskey after the traditional candle lighting, all nurses and nursing students in the audience were invited to participate. About two dozen stood to read the pledge.

Linda Smith of Archbold presented the Archbold Student Award to Cheryl Ogden for outstanding achievement and leadership. A non-traditional college student who had a career as a licensed practical nurse, she was selected by the faculty as one who persevered to achieve her goal to become a registered nurse.

The Academic Excellence Award went to Troy Fulton who had the top grade point average in the class while attending the ADN program full-time and holding a fulltime job to support his family.

Jennifer Dykes received the Student Development Award. Johanna Rowland received the Leadership Award, having developed peer mentoring for the program and having led BANS, which won two state awards.

Heather Mock and Natosha Manning presented awards to ADN charter faculty members Garrett, Huskey and Payne.