Mount Wachusett Community College welcomed twenty-one new nurses to the profession on Tuesday, December 20, 2022, at the Theatre at the Mount.
“It is truly an honor for me to be here to help celebrate this occasion,” noted President James Vander Hooven. “You have put in so much time, effort and dedication, both inside and outside of the classroom, in a program that requires a calling, a vocation in service of others in their greatest times of need.”
“This has not been easy and may have been the hardest thing we’ve ever done for ourselves,” Casey Bernhardt, who was pinned by her mother Maureen, told her fellow graduates. “We lost a lot along the way but gained so much more.”
Students were welcomed into the profession by a mentor, instructor, friend, or family member fastening the program’s nursing pin to their lapel. Following their pinning, the nurses recited the Florence Nightingale Pledge.
In addition to a rigorous academic program, students participated in clinical rotations at one Ԫ’s partners; Alliance Health at Baldwinville, Clearbrook Treatment Center, Gardner Rehabilitation & Nursing Center, Heywood Hospital MHU/GPU, Heywood Hospital LaChance Maternity Center, Life Care Center of Leominster, Stetson School, Quabbin Valley Health Care, and Seven Hills Pediatric Center.
The Practical Nursing Class of 2022 are:
Rosimar Bonicenha, Acton
Casey Elizabeth Bernhardt, Ashby
Brianna Lillian Mary Cauley, Athol
Jenna M. Whitney, Athol
Mumtaz Khan, Fitchburg
Emeli M. Luna, Fitchburg
Anny D. Nankap-Shimi, Fitchburg
Felicia Lynne Tourigny, Fitchburg
Summer M. Westfield, Fitchburg
Tiffany A. Morrison, Gardner
Nicholas Allen Indeglia, Groton
John K. Mburu, Leominster
Neyi Zuleika Rijo Alvarez, Leominster
Iris M. Gonzalez, Lunenburg
Elizabeth Marguerite Whiting, Phillipston
Danielle Jean Bonzey, Spencer
Annabel Keneema, Waltham
Racheal Nakisandha, Waltham
Erin Pinault, West Townsend
Melanie J. Willor, Whitinsville
Carrie Ann Peery, Peterborough, NH