Southwestern Michigan College, December 14, welcomed 19 new nurses to America’s largest health-care profession with almost 4.2 million registered nurses (RNs) nationwide. The federal government projects that more than 203,000 new positions will be created each year through 2031.
December’s class received associate degrees in nursing (ADN) in a pinning ceremony in the theatre of the Dale A. Lyons Building on the Dowagiac campus. The class joins the ranks of 3,164 nursing graduates.
Dr. Melissa Kennedy, dean of the School of Nursing and Health Services, facing the class, spoke two words, perseverance and grit.
“Things this class has gone through as they progressed through this program are plentiful enough to lead to a breaking point. But this class never broke. They persevered and obstacles never blocked their path,” Kennedy said.
“They may have had to slow down, but they never stopped. If one stumbled, another was there to pick them up. When one cried, another was there to be their shoulder. No nursing student left behind. This class is everything nursing is supposed to be — kind, loving, compassionate, intelligent, advocates, dreamers, students.
“The past 2 ½ years have been challenging for us all, and the nursing profession has been strained in terms of patient load, acuity of the patients they’re taking care of, staffing shortages. So many nurses are tired, frustrated and their spirits have been broken.
“But this class is going to change that,” she said. “Just as they have been lights of support for one another on this journey, they’re going to go out in that big world of health care and make a difference. How do I know that? Because they already are.”
Turning back to their families, Kennedy said, “You already know that, right, because you let us have your lights for two years. Graduates, from the bottom of my heart, I want to thank you for letting SMC be part of your journey, and for allowing faculty and staff to become part of your story. Thank you for all the differences you’re going to make in nursing. I love you all.”
Graduates include: LaSharie Armstrong of Elkhart, Kasandra Ball of Niles, Krista Corey of Cassopolis, Katie Cronkright of Niles, Jordan Elmblad of Kalamazoo, Nicole Gibson of Three Oaks, Victoria Iacovetti of Downers Grove, Ill., Nichole Johnson of Cassopolis, Katelynn Kleckner of Vandalia, Brittany Morris of Bitely, Alma Pinon of South Bend, Jamie Radford of Edwardsburg, Emily Riley of Buchanan, Ja’Mia Sanders of Elkhart, Ana Silguero-Casados of Niles, Jennifer Smith of Dowagiac, Alexis Smith-Lane of South Bend, LeAnna Washington of Niles and Yvonne Wells of Coloma.
A slideshow as guests filed in was dedicated to Valentine DiCerto, SMC’s first male LPN graduate in 1969. Born Dec. 23, 1948, in Niles, he died last spring in California at 73.
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