Blue Ridge Community College Honors 29 Nursing Students at Nurse Pinning Ceremony

Director of Nursing Dr. Amy Szoka said the ceremony is a time-honored tradition which represents the completion of instruction and induction into the profession. This month, twenty-nine Blue Ridge students were pinned as part of this rite of passage.

Dr. Laura B. Leatherwood, president of Blue Ridge Community College, welcomed the graduates with a hopeful message about the importance of the nursing profession.

“You are needed more than ever in our healthcare facilities here in Western North Carolina and across the nation,” she said. “On behalf of our institution, community, and all those you will serve in the years to come, thank you for choosing this as your life’s work.”

At the ceremony, Megan Lewis won the Clinical Excellence Award for the Health Sciences Campus and Alyse Benjamin won the Clinical Excellence Award for the Transylvania County Campus. Torri McCall won the Outstanding Student award, and Blaine Taylor won the award for Highest Grade Point Average.

As part of its commitment to workforce development, Blue Ridge Community College expanded its Associate Degree Nursing (ADN) program by 20 seats last year to serve up to 74 nursing students annually. ADN students learn from highly qualified faculty in state-of-the-art simulation labs at the College’s Health Science Center in Hendersonville or Transylvania County Campus in Brevard. More information about the program is available at blueridge.edu/nursing.