For more information:  
Rob Price, Director of Marketing (Media calls) 602.243.8030  

NEWS FROM SOUTH MOUNTAIN & GATEWAY COMMUNITY COLLEGES

Four RN’s and 24 LPN’s to be Pinned at South Mountain Community College       

Twenty-eight Spanish-speaking students of the Bilingual Nursing Fellowship Program of South Mountain and GateWay Community Colleges - in partnership with Banner Health System - will be pinned in a special ceremony at South Mountain Community College on Wednesday, May 14.

In all, four new Registered Nurses and  24 new  Licensed Practical Nurses will be pinned, beginning at 6 p.m. in the Performing Arts Center of South Mountain Community College, 7050 S. 24th St. (just north of Baseline Rd.) 

The pinning ceremony is a time-honored nursing-school tradition conducted to mark the passage from student-nurse to the practice role. The LPN degree is the first "stop" toward becoming a Registered Nurse.  All of the participants fluently speak, read and write both English and Spanish.
 

The event includes:

• Live Mariachi music from 5 to 6 p.m.
• The pinning ceremony
• Light refreshments following the one-hour ceremony

To complete the Bilingual Nursing Fellowship Program (BNFP), students enroll at South Mountain Community College for required general education and health-related studies. This is followed by a full nursing curriculum at GateWay Community College.

 A total of 275 students have  enrolled in the program since its inception in January 2003. The program is funded largely by federal grants designed to help meet the critical need for Spanish speaking RN’s. Congressman Ed Pastor was instrumental in securing these federal grants.
 
GateWay and South Mountain community colleges vigorously interview and select nursing students for the program, which provides students with the opportunity to receive free tuition and assistance with books and fees.

For more information, please call Rochelle Rivas at 602.243.8256.