VGCC Pins Nursing Graduates
Vance-Granville Community College recognized 43 students who graduated this spring from the Associate Degree Nursing program with a pinning ceremony in the college’s Civic Center on May 8.
Among those honored with distinctive nursing pins at the ceremonies were five who graduated through the LPN to ADN Transition Program, which helps Licensed Practical Nurses to continue their education with the Associate Degree Nursing program and then become Registered Nurses. These graduates were Domonique Hargrove and Laura Ohlandt, both of Franklinton; Winnet Tanner of Raleigh; Shonda Baker of Rocky Mount; and Maria Hargrove of Warrenton. The graduates who took courses in the traditional five-semester sequence included Colby Mills of Bahama; Brittany Fuller, Holly Norris and Samantha Wilkins, all of Butner; Cynthia Cozart, Darcy Geiger-Jackson and Hanna Reid, all of Creedmoor; Adetunji Bakare, Fanta Camara, Chad Clayton, Thomas Davidson, Caroline Gautier and Patrick Greene, all of Durham; Kristen Gowan of Franklinton; Ligaya Carissa Aguas, Brittany Bullock, Ashley Martin, April Stainback, Amy Walker and Misty Wright, all of Henderson; Erika Hopkins of Holly Springs; Cameron Barham of Louisburg; Andrea Bullock and Mary Durham, both of Manson; Christine Reigner of Norlina; Melinda Boyd, Peyton Grissom and Tracee Harris, all of Oxford; Lilly Appleberry, Deborah Olchovik and Jesse Teilmann, all of Raleigh; Caroline Strazis of Rougemont; Heather Cook and Kathryn Stovall, both of Stovall; Crystal Lynn and Jena Miller, both of Wake Forest; Carrie Wilkerson of Wendell; and Charley Loyd of Youngsville.
In welcoming remarks, VGCC President Stelfanie Williams congratulated members of the graduating class. “Because of your own hard work and the guidance of our outstanding faculty and staff, you are now prepared to enter a profession that dates back as far as the Middle Ages,” the president said. She added that nursing is “both a science and a service,” and students in this class had demonstrated the latter through service projects supporting local veterans, the college Health Fair, the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, the American Heart Association and the American Red Cross.
After Williams’s remarks, 2013 class president Patrick Greene spoke on behalf of his classmates. He thanked VGCC administrators and faculty members, as well as the students’ families and friends for their support. He added that students had demonstrated teamwork and made friendships that would last a lifetime. As a parting gift from the graduates to the college, the class officers presented a donation to the VGCC Endowment Fund to support scholarships for future students.
VGCC Nursing department chair Erica Jastrow presented academic awards to graduates who completed the program with at least a 3.5 grade point average: Appleberry, Boyd, Clayton, Geiger-Jackson, Grissom, Ohlandt, Olchovik, Strazis and Greene, who had the highest GPA in the class, a perfect 4.0. Jastrow also presented cords to students who chose to participate in the National Student Nurses Association, including Grissom (chapter president), Strazis (chapter secretary), Aguas, Andrea Bullock, Clayton, Gautier, Greene, Loyd, Mills, Olchovik, Reigner, Teilmann, Wilkerson and Wright.
Instructor Anna Seaman described the significance of the nursing pin. The unique green and gold pin identifies each nurse as a VGCC graduate, and indicates that the graduate has the training and competence to serve as a professional nurse. During the ceremony, graduates were pinned by their loved ones, with assistance from instructors Lori Thompson and Jean Hanchey, while instructor Camella Marcom read their biographies. After all graduates had received pins, the lights in the Civic Center were lowered, and instructor Jenny Holloway led students in reciting the “Florence Nightingale Pledge” by lamp-light.
Above: Members of the 2013 Associate Degree Nursing class at Vance-Granville Community College who received their nursing pins on May 8 included, on first (front) row, from left, Caroline Strazis, Ligaya Carissa Glenn Aguas, Kristen Gowan, Ashley Martin, Heather Cook, Melinda Boyd, April Stainback, Crystal Lynn, Darcy Geiger-Jackson and Caroline Gautier; second row, from left, Laura Ohlandt, Christine Reigner, Andrea Bullock, Brittany Bullock, Holly Norris, Maria Hargrove, Brittany Fuller and Winnet Tanner; third row, from left, Misty Wright, Tracee Harris, Amy Jennifer Walker, Colby Mills, Charley Loyd, Samantha Wilkins, Hanna Reid, Domonique Hargrove and Shonda Baker; fourth row, from left, Erika Hopkins, Carrie Wilkerson, Cynthia Cozart, Jena Miller, Kathryn Stovall, Mary Durham, Chad Clayton and Adetunji Bakare; fifth row, from left, Deborah Olchovik, Cameron Barham, Lilly Appleberry, Patrick Greene, Peyton Grissom and Thomas Davidson. (VGCC Photo)
