Radiography Students Receive Praise, Challenges At VGCC Pinning Ceremony
The 16 students who will graduate May 11 with Associate in Applied Science degrees from Vance-Granville Community College received the pins symbolic of their profession in ceremonies May 2.
They also received praise, advice and challenges from speakers at the pinning ceremony.
Members of the Radiography program graduating class for 2002 are Samantha Burton, Tiffany Cheek, Michaela Davis, Catherine Heick and Makesha Pickett of Henderson, Beverly Byrd and Tanya Ester of Creedmoor, Keith Fuller and Sherri Gray of Oxford, Angela Whitfield of Stem, Layla Kearney of Franklinton, Susan Lane of Louisburg, Julie Rollins of Youngsville, Doreen Steed of Warrenton, Alan Duncan of Roxboro and Erica Meeks of Durham.
VGCC President Robert A. Miller welcomed families and friends to the ceremonies and praised the graduating students for their perseverance in a very demanding course of study. He acknowledged that many of them held full-time jobs and cared for families while attending the two-year Radiography program. Seven of the students are married and, collectively, they have 14 children with one more on the way, Miller pointed out.
Dr. Angela Ballentine, chairperson of Health Education and program head for Radiography at VGCC, reminded the 16 of what they have undergone the past two years.
“You have labored for knowledge, you have opened your minds to new ideas, and you have finished the course,” she said.
Ballentine said everyone in the Radiography field is painfully aware of the shortage of healthcare professionals. “This is an opportunity you must be ready to seize,” she said. She further challenged the graduates to represent their profession well, to maintain a positive attitude and to accept responsibility with pride.
Dr. David J. Curtis, a radiologist at the Veterans Administration Medical Center in Durham, was the principal speaker. He detailed the many and rapid changes he has experienced in the field since accompanying his father, also a radiologist, to work almost 50 years ago.
He spoke of advancements to radiology equipment, including the arrival of digital, computer-driven appliances. “And equipment of the future will carry even more information even faster,” he said.
Dr. Curtis advised the students to choose an area of radiography they want to specialize in, “follow your nose and get the proper training to help you succeed.”
Several awards were presented at the ceremony. Angela Hughes, a radiographer at Maria Parham Hospital, received the Clinical Technologist of the Year Award. The students selected Hughes as the technologist from among all the clinical training sites they go as the one who contributed most to their learning.
Beverly Byrd of Creedmoor received the Academic Achievement Award for having the highest grade-point average over the two years. Byrd shared with Angela Whitfield of Stem the Mallinckrodt Award for outstanding clinical performance.
The graduating students recited the Radiographer’s Oath to close the evening’s activities.
In the photo above, graduating members of the Radiography class at Vance-Granville Community College who received pins symbolic of their profession at ceremonies May 2 are, front, from left: Beverly Byrd, Erica Meeks, Samantha Burton, Angela Whitfield and Catherine Heick; second row, from left: Sherri Gray, Alan Duncan, Susan Lane, Julie Rollins, Tanya Ester and Doreen Steed; back row, from left: Michaela Davis, Keith Fuller, Tiffany Cheek, Layla Kearney and Makesha Pickett.
