VGCC Pins 22 Practical Nursing Graduates
A mother of six and a mother of one week were among 22 Vance-Granville Community College Practical Nursing graduates who received their pins in ceremonies in the Civic Center Aug. 5.
The 22 women, who graduated Aug. 7 from the college, include Angela Danese Harper, Tacresha Daynell Harris, Bobbie Lee House, Tina Michelle Often, Keeshes La’Cheral Ragland, Angela Cole Smith, Pamela Gayle Sorrells and Sandra Hargrove Thompson, all of Henderson. House is the mother of six, and Harper has five children.
Also pinned in the candlelight ceremonies were Rosa Lee Boyd and Haley Renee Peace of Oxford, Jeanne Beck Coker of Creedmoor, Tiffany Winstead Collins and Cheryl Christmas Kearney of Warrenton, Angela Louise Hayes, Felisha Lanese O’Neal and Lakesha Monique Yarborough of Louisburg, Wakenda Jefferson Peace of Castalia, Wendy Parker Peace of Youngsville, Kathy Vaughn Rogers of Roxboro, Barbara Jean Barnes of Wilson, Lisa Dawn Nikaeen of Raleigh, and Shannon Ellis Watkins of Durham.
Wendy Peace of Youngsville received the National Federation of Licensed Practical Nursing Association award for maintaining a 3.0 grade-point-average in all her classes, including nursing. Peace was accompanied to the pinning ceremony by her daughter, who was born July 29.
VGCC President Robert Miller welcomed family and friends to the ceremony and shared some statistics about the graduating class. He said that 11 of the class are married, and the graduates have a total of 45 children and four grandchildren. Two of them have other associate degrees, several have worked at other jobs while attending school, and eight had already gotten jobs as practical nurses in area hospitals and nursing homes.
Miller congratulated the graduates and said, “You have persevered and made it through intense and, at times, difficult training.”
Dr. Louise Gooch, a Henderson native and retired director of the Practical Nursing program at Durham Technical Community College, was the principal speaker at the ceremonies. She spoke on “Three Dimensions Into the Future: The Challenge to Change, Develop and Grow.”
“Nursing is an exciting society that continually grows, and for you to succeed, you must grow with it,” she said. To do this, one must outgrow the small, petty things of life, she added.
Dr. Gooch presented a verbal acrostic to the graduates of the word “you.”
“The ‘y’ stands for yearning for this day of completion, for the years ahead of you, for yesterday and what it has taught and for you, the center of attention this evening,” she said.
The ‘o’ in you, she said, is for being overjoyed at the milestones the graduates have reached, at obstacles to overcome and for ordeals ahead. “An outgoing personality and an orderly mind increase the value of all nurses,” Dr. Gooch said.
She said the ‘u’ stands for understanding oneself and the needs of others, the need to uplift those who depend on you and, “You cannot be unbending in your treatment of others.”
Dr. Gooch compared nurses to a star – bright and glowing – and said, “You are stars tonight.”
In addition to receiving their unique VGCC Practical Nursing pins, the graduates closed the ceremonies by reciting the Practical Nursing Pledge by candlelight.
Twenty-two Practical Nursing graduates received their pins at ceremonies Aug. 5 at Vance-Granville Community College. The new practical nurses are, front, from left: Shannon E. Watkins, Jeanne B. Coker, Lisa D. Nikaeen, Keeshes L. Ragland, Tacresha D. Harris, Sandra H. Thompson, Pamela G. Sorrells and Angela C. Smith; second row, from left: Kathy V. Rogers, Angela D. Harper, Haley R. Peace, Wakenda J. Peace, Angela L. Hayes, Barbara J. Barnes and Falisha L. O’Neal; back row, from left: Bobbie L. House, Wendy P. Peace, Tina M. Often, Rosa L. Boyd, Tiffany W. Collins and Cheryl C. Kearney. Lakesha M. Yarborough was not available for the picture.
