(PARK HILLS) – The Centene Center in Farmington was filled with guests and area dignitaries attending the July 25 graduation and pinning ceremony for 29 new nurses from the Mineral Area College Program in Practical Nursing.

These graduates are now eligible to take the National Certification for Licensure Examination to obtain LPN licensure. The students with an "*" are fast-track articulating into the sophomore year of the associate degree program this fall.

*Angela Boyer, Cadet; *Melissa Canterberry, Farmington; *Jennifer Chinetti, Desloge; *Rafe Dean, Desloge; *Paula Dyer, Farmington; *Kari Ellis, Park Hills; *Erin Emert, Pilot Knob; *Elizabeth Ferguson, Marquand; Timothy Francis, Fredericktown; Sarah Gibson, Blackwell; *Catherine Hager, Desloge; *Darla Holloway, Park Hills; *Pamela Junge, Farmington; *Serena Kinney, Fredericktown; *Becky Lankford, Farmington; *Ashley McDaniel, Fredericktown; Brittany Micco, Festus; Brittany Newsom, Park Hills; *Casey Pogue, Park Hills 

*Tracy Robinson, Park Hills; Melissa Rouse, Fredericktown; *Casey Shepard, Park Hills; Sherri Sikes, Fredericktown; Michelle Thebeau, Farmington; Barbara Warren, Potosi; Patricia Washburn, Bonne Terre; *Tabitha Willis, Mineral Point; *Rose Anna Wisdom, Farmington; *Andrea Wolk, Ste. Genevieve.

The Rev. Curtis Warren, Assembly of God pastor and husband of graduate Barbara Warren, gave the ceremony's invocation.

Al Sullivan, former dean of Vocational-Technical Education at Mineral Area College, was the guest speaker. Sullivan was dean 12 years ago when the articulating Practical Nursing to Associate Degree in Nursing option was approved by the Missouri State Board of Nursing, and implemented on the MAC campus.

Lisa Lucas-Dean, 2005 graduate of the program and 2007 graduate of the Associate Degree Nursing program Fast-Track articulation option, led the class of graduates in the Nursing Pledge. Lucas-Dean sang the song "Hero," accompanied by her husband Rafe, who is also a MAC nursing graduate, on guitar.

PN instructors Mary Eimer and Cathy Hutcheson, MAC Allied Health Department Director Teri Douglas, and Vice President of College Affairs (also Career and Technical Education Dean) Gil Kennon participated in the graduation and pinning ceremony.

Highlights of the ceremony included PowerPoint presentations of the class members and their year-in-review, created by graduates Kari Ellis and Betsy Ferguson with the assistance of MAC's A-V department staff and Photo Majik of Farmington. The graduating class's composite photo, created by Camden's Custom Framing, was generously donated to the college by Parkland Health Center and Mineral Area Regional Medical Center.

The students had a busy summer in the days leading up to graduation.

In June, 10 of the graduates attended a three-day, annual convention in Columbia hosted by the Missouri Association of Student and Licensed Practical Nurses (MoSALPN), accompanied by sponsor, coordinator and instructor Lana Jinkerson.  Hundreds of Practical Nursing students, faculty, and LPNs from across the state met to attend the presentations on current healthcare issues, and to celebrate MoSALPN's 60th anniversary of supporting the practical nursing profession.

Jinkerson said, "Our graduates have an excellent reputation in the healthcare community, as evidenced by the numbers of facilities wanting to recruit them. Again, we were unable to grant all the requests made by hospitals, long-term health care, and hospice facilities for recruitment time with these graduates this summer."

This was the 12th graduating class with the Fast-Track LPN-ADN Educational Option. Though many more are eligible, 20 of these graduates applied and were accepted into the abbreviated sophomore year of the ADN program at MAC which begins in August as part of the Fast-Track articulation option.