Nurses graduate from Manatee Technical College
(Bradenton, FL—December 15, 2016) Manatee Technical College graduated 15 students from the evening Practical Nursing program on December 14. To make it to graduation, the students had to attend two nights per week from 6-10 p.m. and every other Saturday and Sunday from 6:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. for 27 months (the day class takes 13 months). Most of the class also held full-time jobs while attending school.
“When you make the decision to pursue a nursing career, you may think, ‘they make good money, you’ll always have a job, or you know someone who was a nurse…’ However, making the choice to become a nurse has nothing to do with any of those things,” said graduate Brittany Hewett in her address. “We learned that death is real, that people need a shoulder to cry on, a hand to hold, a warm touch, someone to tell them the truth, and most importantly we learned that we are that person.”
Hewett was one of three students recognized for perfect attendance. Hewett had perfect class attendance, and Linda Hug and Joanna Gonzalez had perfect clinical attendance.
In a traditional nurses pinning ceremony, one by one the graduates called loved ones to the stage to express gratitude to them for their support. Spouses, children, friends, parents and grandparents had the honor of presenting each graduate with a nursing pin.
Graduate Angela Roepke led the Pledge of Allegiance. Health programs coordinator Joan Barrese gave the welcome. Nursing instructors Beth Meyer and Bonnie Peterson presented the pins, and Misty Cone led the graduates in the Nursing Pledge and made closing remarks. Executive director of Adult, Career and Technical Education Doug Wagner and MTC assistant directors Jeanette Eddy and Omar Edwards congratulated each graduate.
The graduates will become Licensed Practical Nurses (LPNs) upon successfully passing the national licensing exam. The MTC pass rate on the national LPN exam is 93%. The nursing program’s job placement rate is 98%.
