May 12, 2005
Department of Registered Nurse Education Pinning 61 May 2005 Graduates Tonight
(PHOTO OPPORTUNITY)
Ceremony falls at end of National Nurses Week
WHO: Sixty-one (61) Del Mar College Department of Registered Nurse Education
students
WHAT: RN Pinning Ceremony for May 2005 Graduates
WHEN: 7 p.m., Thursday, May 12 (TODAY)
WHERE: Richardson Auditorium, Del Mar College East Campus, Ayers and
Baldwin
VISUALS: Dressed in white uniforms and holding lit candles, the May 2005
registered nursing class will take the Florence Nightingale Pledge and receive
their pins as part of a time-honored tradition.
This spring’s graduating class includes: Elizabeth Amador, Tamala Beaty,
Bili Benson, Misti Branham, Eileen Carbajal, Beatriz Cazares, Nicole Chavarria,
Steve Crider, Viveca De La Pena, Hector Espinoza, Melissa Evans, Mary Katherine
Fields, John Paul Flores, Michelle Flores, Stacy Fojtik, Belinda Garcia, Regina
Garcia, Cynthia Garza, Tina Gaydos, David Gomez, Stacie Gonzales, David Griffith,
Raquel Haddix, Carla Hastings, Carlos Herrera, Theresa Hoelscher, Jennifer Lopez,
Cynthia Martinez, Delisa McDavid, Tyna McDonald, Cynthia McMeekin, Tracy Mondragon,
Elizabeth Mora, Celina Morales, Michelle Brandy Ochoa, Jarrod Oldham, Monica
Olivarez, Tanya Palacios, Taylor Parks, Dona Pease, Armandina Perez, Abby Ramirez,
Michelle Perez, Irina Richardson, Leticia Rodriguez, Mark Rogers, Bernadine
Romero, Sarah Rowe, Leticia Ruiz, Richard Ruiz, Telisha Saldana, Donna Schonhoeft,
Kimberly Schussler, Kenna Smart, Irene Arroyo Trela, Jaime Valenzuela, Palmira
Villarruel, Tiffany Waid, Debora White, Diana Wilson and Theresa Zick.
FYI: Del Mar College’s Registered Nurse (RN) Education program is
one of the largest programs in the state and is the largest program south of
San Antonio. As one of 72 schools of nursing in Texas, which are accredited
to educate an individual for practice as an RN, the College’s program prepares
the greatest number of registered nurses in Corpus Christi.
Each semester, the department graduates an average of 60 students with approximately
85 percent of those graduates remaining in the local workforce.
Earlier this year, the Texas Board of Nurse Examiners gave the College’s
RN Department a rare commendation, along with a continued full-approval status
of accreditation. The Board commended the College’s RN faculty and staff
for the 94.49% passing rate among DMC graduates on the 2004 NCLEX-RN examination.
In 2002, the National League for Nursing Accrediting Commission (NLNAC) awarded
the RN Department “continuing accreditation” for eight years–the
maximum amount the commission grants upon program review. NLNAC continuously
monitors 1700 nursing programs across the country and administers approximately
200 initial and continuous accreditations each year.
The Department of Registered Nurse Education was initiated in 1967 and graduated
its first class in May 1969. Del Mar’s program is one of the largest in
the state and is the largest program south of San Antonio. Patients at South
Texas hospitals, clinics, doctors’ offices and other healthcare facilities
come across DMC graduates everyday.
CONTACT: Bertha Almendarez, RN, chair of the RN and LVN Departments and
professor of Vocational Nurse Education, at 361/698-1394
-DMC-mce