\u201cThe world needs you,\u201d Virginia Beach City Public Schools (VBCPS) Superintendent Aaron Spence told the graduates. \u201cWe need healers; we need thinkers and we need role models.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe world needs to know that young people today are in fact highly-motivated, talented people who have much to give back,\u201d said Spence. \u201cAnd the world needs to see that all of you, whether you came to this as an adult or a student out of our high schools, the world needs to see that you are willing to put in the hard work it takes to be successful. And make no mistake about it, the field that you have chosen will give you every chance to prove that you are willing to do hard work.\u201d<\/p>\n Throughout the VBSPN 18-month program, the graduates have shown they are not deterred by hard work.<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019ve got to be dedicated. You\u2019ve got to work for it,\u201d said Alexis Bryant, member of the VBSPN Class of 2017. \u201cYou\u2019ve got to spend those sleepless nights and put hard work into it. We had a test every Monday, every single one.\u201d<\/p>\n Bryant is one of the VBSPN graduates who began the program when she was a senior in high school. She graduated from Kellam in 2016 and continued and completed her studies in the VBSPN this year.<\/p>\n Kasey Jethro enrolled in the VBSPN as an adult student. She\u2019d worked as hair stylist for most of her life but says knew she wanted to be a nurse. She plans to continue her studies to become a registered nurse, as all of her fellow\u00a0graduates have said they aspire to do.<\/p>\n \u201cI want to do jail work to begin with,\u201d Jethro explained of her future plans. \u201cMy long-term goal, I\u2019m hoping within the next five years, is to work in a clinic in areas that people don\u2019t want to go to. People don\u2019t pick their situations; we\u2019re talking children up to adolescents. I\u2019d like to work with them. I really would. That\u2019s my goal. I\u2019d like to keep them out of the jail system.\u201d<\/p>\n An emergency room (ER) is where Morgan Lindsey hopes to work in the future. \u201cI used to be a scribe in the ER, so I used to see how the nurses were. I don\u2019t like sitting down. I like not knowing. I want something new each day.\u201d<\/p>\n After graduating from the Health Sciences Academy at Bayside High School in 2006, Lindsey earned her bachelor\u2019s degree in biology from Old Dominion University. Now she\u2019s applying to graduate programs to earn a master\u2019s degree and become a nurse practitioner.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m excited. It\u2019s been a struggle. Not academically, but just life-wise,\u201d added Lindsey. \u201cIt feels really great that I\u2019m actually accomplishing this because I didn\u2019t really think I was going to make it. I mean, I knew I was, but it felt like it was going to be forever.\u201d<\/p>\n Like Lindsey, there were times Latoya Smothers-Tolar didn\u2019t know if she would realize her dream to become a registered nurse. While serving in the U.S. Navy, she was stationed in Virginia. She enrolled at Hampton University to study nursing after getting out of the military.<\/p>\n \u201cI had financial troubles and my son was diagnosed with autism, so we had to work that out and figure out what we were going to do and plan for him. Then I found this program and I was able to go because it was affordable.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"VBSPN](\"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/VBSPN-Class-of-2017.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/a><\/a>