Virginia Peninsula Community College continues doing its part to fill the need for nurses, holding a pinning ceremony Nov. 29 to welcome 23 new professionals.
"A lot of them already have jobs, really great jobs, exactly where they want to be, in great programs," said Allied Health Director Jenni Jones. "It's really exciting."
Among the beneficiaries of the latest nursing cohort are Riverside Health System, Sentara Healthcare, and Bon Secours hospitals. Others who aren't entering the workforce are continuing their education by pursuing bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees. Some graduates have expressed an interest in returning to the College to teach.
College president Dr. Towuanna Porter Brannon spoke to the graduating class, which consisted of the day, evening, and weekend cohorts from the Historic Triangle campus. She told the students that in addition to the local and national shortages of nurses, there also are local and national shortages of teachers.
"That's really critical. She basically told them, 'You are tasked with coming back and teaching for us,'" Jones said, adding Brannon mentioned nursing instructors Karen Lynch and Marilou Wilder. "It was really very touching for her to acknowledge the faculty that way."
The 45-minute ceremony took place at the Peninsula Workforce Development Center in Hampton. Nearly 200 guests were on hand, and the event was available via a Zoom link, thanks to the efforts of Information Technology's Jim Worthey.
"I think that was pretty important," said Jones, who noted more than 70 people were on Zoom, including some from out of the country.
This group started its nursing journey in January 2021 during the pandemic. Students ranged in age from fresh out of high school to middle age.
"We had a huge range, and from all kinds of different backgrounds, professional adults who were changing careers, single parents," Jones said.
There were English-as-second-language students and a transfer student from Rappahannock Community College who made a seamless transition.
Another student, LeRon Lewis, also is an EMS adjunct professor at Virginia Peninsula.
"He was instrumental in making this pinning happen," Jones said.
Lewis created signs and tickets and recruited fire and EMS students to be on hand to help. It's tradition for non-graduating nursing students to participate, but Jones said it was nice to have the fire and EMS students also involved.
"They were in their dress blues," Jones said. "They were amazing."
Jones admitted the class size was smaller than usual, but it's also typical of the trend in the past couple of years. She's expecting about 40 in the May 2023 graduating class, which will consist of students from the Hampton campus cohorts.
For more information on the College's nursing program, go to vpcc.edu.