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Commencement Ceremony Honors Nursing Program Graduates

May 6, 2007 — Dressed in crisp white uniforms accented by matching caps and shoes, 13 young men and women joined a large group of family, friends and hospital officials over the weekend to celebrate the beginning of their new careers.
"Today marks the beginning of the beginning of the next chapter in your lives as caregivers — perhaps the greatest calling that anyone could choose to follow," said Amos Carty, Schneider Regional Medical Center's chief operating officer.
It wasn’t just a beginning — the commencement ceremonies at the Holy Family Catholic Church on St. Thomas also marked the end of their time at the hospital's School of Practical Nursing. Throughout the two-hour ceremony, the graduates were not only honored for their accomplishments, but also for the hard work they put in over the course of the nursing academy's 15-month program.
"We can only imagine how hard it has been — how hard you have worked and struggled," Carty said. "So today we honor not only your success, but your perseverance over the past few months."
The group's collective struggles were highlighted in a speech given by nursing school valedictorian Marie Pierre Lomencoborrea, who hopes to augment her training with a nursing degree and eventually specialize in the field of forensic nursing.
"The past 15 months have been a great journey, one filled with many challenges, but we made it through," she told her fellow graduates. "And it has given us the opportunity to continue further on our paths in this career."
Forensic nursing will combine her love for the healthcare system with her passion for law, Lomencoborrea added — qualities instilled by some of the hospital's multi-talented faculty members, who come from a number of professional and academic backgrounds.
Nursing school salutatorian Faithe Jackson also spoke about her passion for healthcare — even though nursing was not her first choice for a career. "I did not intend to go into nursing," she explained. "But one day I got very sick, and I spent a lot of time watching the nurses who took care of me, and how they helped me get through everything."
Jackson said it is important to "love what you do."
"The past 15 months have been very hard, but I realized that I had to give it my all," she said. "Because the greater the work, the greater the reward. I realized that I was passionate about something and that I had to pursue it — that if I wanted to be filled up with riches, I had to give my best to what I was doing."
Special attention was also paid during the ceremony to the nursing school's only male graduate, Ray Husband, whose smiling sister, Tourism Commissioner Beverly Nicholson-Doty, was also in attendance Saturday.
Husband, an employee at the Sea View Adolescent Unit, said he was carrying on a tradition set by his grandmother Andromeda and other family members who have dedicated their lives to nursing.
"I really enjoy my work, which has also influenced me to become a nurse," Husband said.
During the ceremony, the graduates lined up to light a candle and sing the Florence Nightingale and Practical Nurse's pledge, which signifies their devotion to the profession. The lighting of the candle pays tribute to Nightingale, a pioneer in the field of nursing whose most significant contributions came during the Crimean War.
"Carry your candle, run to the darkness, seek out the hopeless, confused and torn," the graduates sang as their candles were lit. "Take your candle, go light your world. Take your candle, and go light your world."
The completion of the hospital's School of Practical Nursing Program makes the graduates eligible to take the national NCLEX exam, a prerequisite test students must take in order to obtain their nursing licenses.
Graduates may then move on to obtaining their nursing degrees or come back to work at the hospital as licensed practical nurses, according to Schneider Regional's chief executive officer, Rodney Miller Sr.
"You know you always have a job," Miller said at the end of the ceremony. "So don't ever worry about that. And don't forget, as you continue to move forward, that the future of health care in this territory lies with our nurses, and we hope that you continue to stay down here and serve."
This year's School of Practical Nursing graduates are:
Sherilyn Barzey
Rosa Carbon
Shurnel David
Ray Husband
Faithe Jackson
Shirley A. James
Shawna John
Marie Pierre Lomencoborrea
Lanisha Maduro
Diorka Martinez
Sarah Quetel
Suzette Smith-Barry
Nola Stuart
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