Austell’s Chattahoochee Technical College boasts first nursing graduates

An overwhelming majority of nursing students at Chattahoochee Technical College will have opportunities to earn advanced degrees from larger colleges or employment offers upon graduating in June, school officials said.                                         

The school, whose South Cobb campus is located at 1578 Veterans Memorial Highway in Austell, is graduating its first class of nurses from its Health Sciences Department June 16. 

Heeding the call from the medical industry and seeking to fill the demand in the shortage of nurses, Chattahoochee Tech established an associate nursing degree program for college-bound students. 

The Austell campus, which is health science-focused, has an affiliation with WellStar Health System that helped the school establish the program in 2009. 

“The faculty has worked with the group over the past year-and-a-half, so this represents the culmination of what they’ve worked toward for many years,” said Ronald Webb, dean of Health Sciences at the college. “Some have been accepted to bachelor degree programs at larger institutions, and some are going to work right away.” 

Eighteen students will graduate from the program since beginning their departmental studies in January 2010. Many of those students had taken prerequisite classes at the college prior to their entry into the program, Webb said.

Prerequisite classes included science, biology, English, psychology, humanities and sociology, among others. Students must have successfully passed a standardized test for admission into the nursing program. 

Spokeswoman Rebecca Long said the students will be among 500 students from all programs at the college. Graduation is at 10 a.m. June 16 at the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre in Smyrna. 

A pinning ceremony for the nursing graduates will be held at 5 p.m. June 15 at the school’s Paulding County campus to welcome them into the nursing profession. 

“As this class has been together for more than a year in their coursework and practicums, they have grown very close, so this will be an emotional experience for them,” Long said. “The new class of students who began recently will also attend in their uniforms.” 

Before joining the workforce, students must take a state licensure exam. 

“That should be the first thing, hopefully, that’s on their minds,” Webb said. “They can’t work until they have a nursing license.” 

Graduating the school’s first class of nursing students is just the beginning. 

“Everybody is aware that employment opportunities in the field are rising,” Webb said. “We believe in lifelong education, and attending Chattahoochee Tech is the first step. 

“Students can continue their education and give back to the community as a nursing practitioner or as an instructor," he added.