{"id":5152,"date":"2016-05-03T10:41:34","date_gmt":"2016-05-03T14:41:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/?p=5152"},"modified":"2016-05-18T14:27:03","modified_gmt":"2016-05-18T18:27:03","slug":"vb-school-of-practical-nursing-celebrates-its-52nd-commencement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/vb-school-of-practical-nursing-celebrates-its-52nd-commencement\/","title":{"rendered":"VB School of Practical Nursing celebrates its 52nd commencement"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cYou are at the beginning of your journey as a member of a proud and trusted profession,\u201d Virginia Beach School of Practical Nursing (VBSPN) Director Rosa Abbott told graduates.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople will seek your advice, if they haven\u2019t already, refer to your knowledge for answers, look to your actions for guidance and most of all,\u201d continued Abbott, \u201cwill trust your expertise with their very lives.\u201d<\/p>\n

Abbott joined colleagues, school division officials and family members in applauding the accomplishments of the 15 members of the VBSPN Class of 2016 at the school\u2019s 52nd<\/sup> Commencement April 29.<\/p>\n

\"applauding\"<\/p>\n

The school division\u2019s 18-month accredited program includes 1,494 hours of classroom studies, clinical hours and preceptorships to prepare graduates to take the National Council Licensure Examination for Practical Nurses (NCLEX-PN). Successful completion of the state board exam allows graduates to be licensed as a licensed practical nurse (LPN) and to continue their nursing education to become registered nurses.<\/p>\n

Moments before the ceremony began VBSPN Class of 2016 member Mourizio Zeland reflected on graduation day.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt means a lot. It means the opportunity to do better and create a living for your family. You can also help people and save lives,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\"Zeland2\"<\/p>\n

Commitment to the program and one\u2019s studies is a must, according to Zeland.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have to be serious about what you\u2019re doing. It\u2019s not like a walk in the park,\u201d he said. \u201cThey really force you to go beyond your limit and then some. You\u2019ll be so stretched that you may feel overwhelmed completely but at the end of the process you realize that you can do more.\u201d<\/p>\n

Being serious about the program came easily to Lindsey Pitts, one of five VBSPN students who began the program as a high school senior. Pitts graduated from Kempsville High School in June 2015.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve gone back and forth between being a neurologist, a sports medic and nursing, and since this program was offered while I was in high school I decided to take it. I like bedside nursing because you get to know the patients and their families,\u201d said Pitts.<\/p>\n

\"Pitts\"<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a big accomplishment to be able to graduate from nursing school while most of my friends are still freshmen in college,\u201d added Pitts. \u201cI\u2019ve already got my career started. I\u2019ve had a job offer through CHKD in nursing and I currently work at Sentara as a nursing care partner.\u201d<\/p>\n

Christina Brown is equally proud of her graduation from the VBSPN, though she regrets not starting the program during her high school years like Pitts.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I graduated [from Landstown High School] back in 2010, I didn\u2019t really know about this program. I probably would have taken the opportunity to do it then,\u201d reflected Brown.<\/p>\n

Always wanting to be a nurse, Brown pursued the program in 2014, after personal health issues altered her college plans.<\/p>\n

\"Brown\"<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the stepping stone to becoming an RN. It\u2019s really about helping people and teaching them about their disease processes and what it is that\u2019s going on in their body,\u201d explained Brown. \u201cIt\u2019s a lot of teaching and us learning from them also, because everyone\u2019s symptoms and everyone is different. We\u2019re problem-solving every day.\u201d<\/p>\n

And when the problem-solving and studying got to be too tough, class president Janessa Hernandez knew that she could count on her fellow VBSPN graduates.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can confidently say these people are more than just my classmates; they are my family,\u201d she said in her commencement speech. \u201cAnd, as a family, when times got rough, when someone was anxious about a final, when someone hit their limit and questioned whether nursing was for them, there was always someone there to help. Because as nurses, we have to stick together.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNursing is more than just a job title or duty,\u201d declared Hernandez, \u201cit\u2019s who we are.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"graduates\"<\/p>\n

To view more photos from the VBSPN 52nd<\/sup> Commencement, visit the VBSchools Facebook page<\/a>. Information about the VBSPN requirements, application and studies is available on Virginia Beach Technical and Career Education Center <\/em>website<\/em><\/a>. <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cYou are at the beginning of your journey as a member of a proud and trusted profession,\u201d Virginia Beach School of Practical Nursing (VBSPN) Director Rosa Abbott told graduates. \u201cPeople […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":5153,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5152","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5152","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5152"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5152\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5228,"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5152\/revisions\/5228"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5153"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5152"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5152"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5152"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}