High School Students Receive CNA Certification from SGTC at Pinning Ceremony

May 8, 2018
29 high school students stand on a stage wearing red scrubs.
High school students from Webster, Schley and Americus Sumter who completed the Nurse Aide program at South Georgia Technical College through the Dual Enrollment program stand on the stage after their recent pinning ceremony.

In the midst of high school and college graduation ceremonies around the area, South Georgia Technical College held a special ceremony recently for 30 high school students who completed SGTC’s Nurse Aide certificate through the Dual Enrollment program.

The 30 students who participated in the Nurse Aide (CNA) Technical Certificate of Credit program received their certificate and were pinned at the ceremony and will now be eligible to sit for the National Nurse Aide Assessment program (NNAAP) – all before they received their high school diploma.

“A lot of these students have big dreams and plan to go further into the medical field,” said Raissa Welch, SGTC Nurse Aide adjunct instructor. “I’m glad that I’ve been able to be here with them, help them and guide them along in their beginning stepping-stones of the medical field.”

Welch, along with fellow adjunct instructor Lundy Wigand, taught students from Webster County High School, Americus Sumter High School and Schley County High School a total of 77 skills that they will potentially be tested on during their state boards. The students learned in the classroom as well as through clinicals at Magnoia Manor in Buena Vista for two semesters.

Program graduates included Americus Sumter High School students: Jamyiah Bateman, Devontavious French, Elena Guzman-Perez, Malcolm Mercer, Amelia Moore, Jasmine Oliver, Serenity Patterson, Aleah Reddick, D’ndia Waters, Donterrious Watts, Brianna Worth, Kimberly Worthy, Erika Wright and Destinee Young. Schley County students included Hannah Beamon, Havalyn Cross, Karlee Harbuck, Diamond Hollis, Lindsey Long, Blake Masters, Haley Ramirez and Mary Kate Streetman. Webster County students included Mary Margaret Chesnut, Jessica Durham, Kailey Hudson, Kaylee Hughes, Yessica Mendoza, Jy’Kieria Williams, Kimberly Flora Leann Williams and Casey Willis.

“We’re so lucky that we have such an excellent program,” Wigand said to the audience of nearly 200 family members in the John M. Pope Center on SGTC’s Americus campus. “Our students were actually asked to come back and work in the facility that we go to because of their determination. I have really enjoyed teaching them this year, and I look forward to seeing them prosper.”

Academic Dean Vanessa Wall delivered the welcome for the event, sharing that this was the first pinning ceremony that has been held for CNA program graduates.

“These students are making SGTC history,” she said before handing the program over to Webster County student Casey Willis to deliver the invocation and the Pledge of Allegiance.

After individually going to the stage to receive their pin, a flower and a gift from the instructors, Schley County student Diamond Hollis came back up to the stage to read a poem about Nurse Aides. Following her, Americus Sumter student Donterrious Watts delivered the benediction.

The dual enrollment program allows high school students to earn college credit while also meeting high school graduation requirements. The program is available to any eligible student in grades 9-12 and enrolled in a public school, private school or home-study program.

The dual enrollment program, previously known as “Move on When Ready,” is free to high school students, and the college credits earned through courses may transfer to colleges in the Technical College System of Georgia or colleges and universities in the University System of Georgia.

 

Photo gallery: SGTC Holds Pinning Ceremony For CNA Graduates