Special to the HHES

The Central Texas College (CTC) Nursing Department recognized 31 graduates of the Associate Degree Nursing program during a pinning ceremony today in the Anderson Campus Center. The pinning signifies the passage of the student nurse role to the role of a practicing nurse. Guest speaker for the event was Lynette Connell-Jones.

Several students were recognized as honor graduates for achieving a grade point average between 3.5 and 3.79 in their nursing courses. They were Mayela Anacleto, Danielle Angulo, Albert Cabrera, Chelsea Clayton, Kimberly Dobson-Little, Terri Hordnes, Ashley Scott and Renee Stahl.

Student awards were also presented during the ceremony. Winner of the Mack and Leora Duce Award for nursing excellence was Stacy Harp, nursing graduate from December 2015. She received a commemorative pin and a $1,000 prize. Based on nominations from her student peers, Nicole Richardson received the Caring Heart Award for exemplifying the three C’s (caring, compassion and concern) of nursing. For achieving outstanding results on the nursing HESI exam, Chelsea Clayton receiving a gift certificate from Monarch Uniforms and Danielle Angulo received a gift card from Scrubtopia Medical Outfitters.

Upon receiving their nursing pins, the students then held the traditional candle lighting ceremony. Each nursing graduate, along with their semester faculty team leader, is presented a candle which is lit prior to citing the Nurse’s Pledge.

The spring 2016 CTC associate degree in nursing graduates are Mayela Anacleto, Danielle Angulo, Gabriel Arce-Castro, Ymani Booze, Briante Brunson, Arielle Buffington, Albert Cabrera, Alysha Cataffo, Chelsea Clayton, Sierra Cole, Brooklyn DeKort, Kimberly Dobson-Little, Daniel Everett, Olga Fomenko, Samantha Garcia, Chelsea Gardner, Alexis Garland, Terri Hordnes, Mandy Horton, Christine Jackson, Kim Medina, Margarita Quinonez, Nicole Richardson, Tahlia Sablan, Sheridth Santos, Sheila Schmidt, Ashley Scott, Brittany Smart, Renee Stahl, Hector Vazquez-Aguirre and Nakisha Williams.