From Beaufort County Community College

 

Forty-four graduates of Beaufort County Community College’s Associate Degree Nursing program received their nursing school pins Thursday, May 15, in a ceremony, which is a traditional rite of passage for nursing school graduates across the country.

The ceremony was held at the First United Methodist Church in Washington before an audience of about 350 BCCC administrators, faculty and staff as well as family and friends of the graduates.

Four students received awards honoring their academic and nursing success. The Leadership Award was presented to Carolyn Heitman, Associate Degree Nursing Senior Class President, of Chocowinity. The Outstanding Senior Student Award was presented to James Allen Menke of Washington. The Katie Paul Award for Clinical Excellence was presented to Jade Leonard of Greenville. Michelle Carter of Plymouth received the Academic Excellence Award.

In his faculty address, Kent Dickerson, director of nursing at BCCC, told the graduates that they had changed from their first day of orientation and are ready for the challenges ahead.

“You are ready to become the nurses that you can be,” he said.

In welcoming remarks, Heitman said the graduates, “began as a class of strangers pursuing a common goal. . .We have worked hard together helping each other out and cheering each other along. … From now on, we are a breed of superhero called nurses.”

In remarks on behalf of the graduating class, Kati Howdy of Washington thanked the nursing faculty and the family members of the graduating class for their support.

“This particular program and all the people I have come to know over the years have truly changed my life,” she said.

Pinning ceremonies in their currently recognizable form began in 1893. The pin is awarded to the nurse to recognize the achievement of entering the profession and to signify a nursing school graduate’s affiliation with a specific nursing school.

The graduates are now qualified to take the state licensure examination.

The graduates are Elizabeth Dawn Alligood, Matthew Kelly Alligood, Kayla Spain Ausbon, Victoria Rowena Bitar, Jennifer Trueblood Boyd, Sara Ricks Cahoon, Victoria Jefferson Carrow, Michelle Howell Carter, Erin Hope Chambers, Carley R. Cooper, Tresa Carolyn Doss, Kellen Virginia Edwards, Beverly D. Eubanks, Melissa Ann Fornes, Erin Gray Franz, Jessica Leanne Godley, Carolyn A. Heitman, Adam James Higgins, Nikki Lynn Armstrong Hill, Kati Nicole Howdy, Samantha Gail Hulon, Samantha S. Jones, Hillary Kay Keizer, Jade Nicole Leonard, Mary Magdalene Little, Vera Mano, Myriah Jade Mason, Patricia Prince Massey, James Allen Menke, Karen Delois Piles, Tabitha Christine Pollard, Jessica Renee Roberson, Deborah Moore Rollins, Samantha Mobley Spain, Corey Michelle Speller, Hillary Denise Stringer, Marion Amelia Swindell, Hannah Jo Taylor, Rachel Logan Taylor, Kristin Stocks Thomas, Amy Loberg Underhill, Crystal VanScoy, Charlotte Nicole Waters and Kayla Brooke Woolard.

For more information about the Associate Degree Nursing program at BCCC, contact Kent Dickerson, director of nursing, at 252-940-6205 or visit the BCCC website atwww.beaufortccc.edu.