Nursing Graduates Will Make a Difference

“For my fellow classmates, I am currently experiencing tachycardia, tachypnea and diaphoresis.” That’s something you don’t hear from your typical graduation speaker. But Amanda Manley was addressing Putnam/Northern Westchester BOCES’ Licensed Practical Nursing Class of 2014, and her classmates understood every word. For the rest of the audience, she said, “That translates to me having a fast heart rate, fast breathing and profuse sweating.”

Thirty-three students graduated from BOCES’ LPN program Tuesday, having completed a rigorous course of study and many hours of real-world experience in hospitals, nursing homes and other medical settings.

Manley praised her nursing instructor, Judy Gromer, for her “passion, professionalism and dedication to our nursing program” and thanked the families and friends of the graduates for their support and encouragement.

Jennifer Nordquist, another student speaker, alluded to the rigor of the program when she joked that “by December, our families started to see our split personalities.” At the close of her remarks, Nordquist screamed, “We are nurses!”

Linda Nicolo, the third graduate to speak, talked about the transformation that took place as the students did clinical rotations, first in a nursing home, next in a medical-surgical unit of a hospital and finally in a mental health facility. When she began her rotation in the hospital, Nicolo said she was looking for a haz-mat suit because of her fear of infection. But in time, she said, “the masks came off, and fear disappeared and we were nurses.”

In her closing remarks, BOCES Assistant Superintendent Lynn Allen recalled being hospitalized a few years ago with complications following surgery and said “My nurses became my lifeline, my sunshine, my hope. I will always remember each and every one of them. ”

With her own experience in mind, Allen said, “I could not help but feel truly thankful to each of you for choosing this caring profession.”