BLINN RECOGNIZES 17 FUTURE NURSES DURING PINNING CEREMONY

  

Seventeen Blinn College Licensed Vocational Nursing graduates were welcomed into the profession Wednesday during the program’s 53^rd pinning ceremony at the Dr. W.W. O’Donnell Performing Arts Center in Brenham.

Cassandra Walker (Burton), Victoria Aguilar (Dime Box), Rachael Davis (Giddings), Haley Pointer (Iola), Mercedes Nowlin (Ledbetter), Toni Gabriel (Lexington), Ashley Jasek (Round Top), Morgan Bolten (Sealy), Tammy Louise Clark McKenzie (Sealy), Deborah Torres (Columbus), Maria Castillo (Brenham), Loretta Cavasar (Brenham), Ashley Gamboa (Brenham), Jasmine Leakes (Brenham), Wyniesa Nolan (Brenham), Angelica Telford (Brenham) and Ryan Wehmeyer (Brenham) all received their nursing pins after successfully completing 19 courses in one of the most rigorous programs Blinn offers.

“We are very proud of our graduates,” said Michelle Marburger, director of the Brenham campus vocational nursing program. “They have had a long and strenuous year as they prepared to become a nurse and we have enjoyed watching them learn and grow while working beside them.”

Last year, 95 percent of Blinn’s vocational nursing graduates passed the National Council Licensing Examination on the first attempt and four out of the last five years the Blinn program has had a perfect passing rate. The national average is approximately 82.2 percent. 

The 12-month program’s first semester includes 10 courses, and students must pass all their classes to advance to the next semester. Should they fail, they must re-apply for the program the following year. To pass, students must score at least a 75 percent, and the program also features a strict attendance policy. If a student fails an exam, they must schedule an appointment with their instructor, and together they go over the exam to discover the source of the student’s confusion.

The vocational nursing program consists of classroom, laboratory and clinical experiences, some of which begin at 6:30 a.m. Hospitals and other health care facilities throughout the Brenham and La Grange communities are utilized for clinical rotations. Students are expected to spend 35-40 hours each week in scheduled, attendance-mandatory activities.

Graduates who pass their state board exams are qualified to work in home health, dialysis, hospitals, clinics and physicians’ offices.

Blinn’s Division of Health Sciences offers associate degree nursing, dental hygiene, emergency medical services, physical therapist assistant, radiologic technology, fire science, therapeutics manufacturing, veterinary technology and vocational nursing programs designed to quickly train students for high-demand professions. For more information on Blinn’s vocational nursing program, visit: www.blinn.edu/twe/vocn_brenham.