News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
The first class of Livingston’s Vol State Community College Nursing program has graduated with an overall perfect pass rate.
Public Relations Coordinator Eric Melcher said 11 students took and passed the exam for a RN license on the first attempt.
“We are really proud of our faculty,” Melcher said. “They have done a fantastic job. The staff that work with our nursing students and of course, the students themselves. It is pretty exceptional to have that happen with your first graduating class. We are pretty excited about that, but we are hoping it is something that can continue in the future.”
Melcher said the college kept labs in person while classroom learning switched to virtual. Melcher said the transition caused many challenges, but all students passing shows no learning was lost.
“For the graduating class the main thing was the change over to online classes,” Melcher said. “We are still able to do labs in person, but we have to have a lot of procedures in place to get that done to keep everyone safe. Especially with a hands on program like nursing, it has been a challenge to make sure our students get what they need.”
Gallatin’s campus also had all nine students pass the program first try. The second group of Nursing students are currently taking hybrid courses with a graduation date of next spring. Melcher said Vol State being familiar with online classes made handling the pandemic easier.
“We are very skilled in online classes at Vol State. We have been doing it for years,” Melcher said. “Moving some of these to an online format, we already had the platforms set from other classes.”
The two-year degree program offers an associates in nursing. The application cycle for the next class opens Tuesday. All applications will be due by April 1 for a summer 2021 start.
