Several graduating students were recognized during the ceremonies. Carrie Bosley received the Pennsylvania State Nurses Association District 15 Associate Degree Nursing Leadership Award, and Donald Camara received the Gettysburg Campus Practical Nursing Leadership Award. These leadership awards are presented to a student in each program who demonstrates strong leadership qualities which include patient advocacy, professionalism and effective communication skills.
The Gettysburg Campus Practical Nursing Faculty Award for Excellence in Nursing was awarded to Tina Dailey, and the Associate Degree Nursing Faculty Award for Excellence in Nursing went to Roger Guss. The faculty awards are presented to a student in each program who demonstrates excellence in interpersonal communication, assessment, documentation, and technical skills; who consistently exhibits exemplary behavior both in the classroom and clinical areas; and who best exemplifies HACC Nursing.
Mandy Boyer was the recipient of the Gettysburg Campus Nursing Student Organization Art of Nursing Award for Practical Nursing, and Dawn Bagot received the Nursing Student Organization Associate Degree Art of Nursing Award. These awards are presented to a student in each program who demonstrates outstanding compassionate care to patients and families. The pinning ceremony included words of encouragement from graduating registered nursing student Jeannette Snyder-Wallett and graduating Practical Nursing student Susan Rohrer. Snyder-Wallett acknowledged the RN students' "hard work, paperwork, sleepless nights, paperwork, exams, lab validations, paperwork" and thanked family, friends, and HACC nursing faculty for their support. She commented with amusement that "Mary Poppins has nothing on us, because we can say 'Hypertropicosteoarthropathy.' Not only can we say it, we can spell it and we know what it means!"
Rohrer thanked the HACC practical nursing staff, including the lab instructors "who taught us our first skills in hand washing and taking a temperature" through a final lesson in "starting an IV." She thanked the clinical instructors "who shared their knowledge and experience, challenged us, raised our self esteem and built up our confidence to become good nurses" and "our families who supported us as we struggled and cried and went without sleep."
Marilyn Teeter, director of nursing programs at HACC-Gettysburg, recognized HACC administrators and staff who have been instrumental in initiating and supporting the HACC nursing program in Gettysburg. She also praised the "wonderful nursing faculty" of "highly professional nurses who are dedicated to helping our students learn."
And she offered congratulations and encouragement to the graduates. "Our programs are extremely challenging," said Teeter. "With theory, skills laboratory and clinical learning, our students must put in many hours of dedicated studying and practice in order to succeed. And these students have succeeded." To the graduates, she said "You had the courage to pursue your dream and you achieved it."
Teeter also acknowledged the cooperation and affiliation of area health care agencies which make their sites available to provide clinical experience for nursing students: Adams-Hanover Counseling Services, Carlisle Regional Medical Center, Chambersburg Hospital/Summit Health, Gettysburg Hospital WellSpan, Gettysburg Lutheran Nursing & Rehabilitation Center, Golden Living Center, Green Acres Adams County Nursing & Rehabilitation Center, Hanover Hospital, Hoffman Home, Inc., Homewood at Plum Creek, Lutheran Home Care Services, Lutheran Social Services, Mountain View OB/GYN, St, James Lutheran Church Day Care Center, VNA WellSpan, Washington County Medical Center, Waynesboro Hospital/Summit Health, and York Hospital WellSpan.
HACC-Gettysburg Campus accepts students into its practical nursing program each January and into the associate degree nursing program each January and August. HACC also offers college-based practical nursing and associate degree registered nursing programs at the HACC-Harrisburg and HACC-Lancaster campuses.
To learn more about the programs and qualifications, log onto to the HACC HealthCareers Website.
Gettysburg Campus associate degree registered nursing graduates who received their pins during the ceremony were: Judith Aburn, Dawn Bagot, Jodi Boone, Carrie Bosley, Jamie Chapman, Elizabeth Fetter, Michele Glass, Roger Guss, David Johnson, Sandra Keller, Laura Laughman, Amy Mundis, Stephanie Prindible, Kim Ritnour-Fossett, Sherry Smith, Jeannette Snyder-Wallett, Jessica Watts.
Gettysburg Campus Practical Nursing graduates who received their pins during the ceremony were: Henrietta Anyika, Mandy Boyer, Donald Camara, Barbara Copenhaver, Erica Dague, Tina Dailey, Melinda Houser, Kalai Jones, Jewel Joyner, Debra Kocher, Elizabeth Reaser, Susan Rohrer, Marie Schultz, Debbie Sheffler, Cindy Shriner, Jessica Vigoletti.