Moultrie Tech Nurse's Assistant Grads Find Hope in Hero
Former MTC CNA and LPN student gives inspiration to new grads
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| Pictured, left to right, are NCTW project facilitator Essie Johnson, keynote speaker Sonya Williams, graduate Regina Crapps, graduate Vantresia Williams, graduate Louise Styles, NCTW coordinator Lisa Newton and MTC nurse’s assistant program instructor Sandra Vance. Not pictured is graduate Katrina Johnson. |
MOULTRIE , GA. Now a licensed practical nurse in the emergency room at Colquitt Regional Medical Center, Moultrie Technical College (MTC) graduate Sonya Williams didn’t always see herself as having such a bright future.
Williams, a 36-year-old single mother of two and grandmother of two, recently shared her story of hope and perseverance with aspiring certified nurse’s assistants (CNA) and their families and friends at a commencement ceremony held September 28 in the college’s Tifton campus conference center.
Moultrie Tech and its New Connections to Work (NCTW) program celebrated the graduation of CNA students Regina Crapps, Katrina Johnson, Louise Styles and Vantresia Williams. Styles maintained the highest grade point average in the class.
During her keynote speech to the graduates Williams said she decided she wanted to enter the medical field after her infant son passed away at eight months old.
In 1997 she was at the end of her rope. Doors of opportunity had closed all around her. So she took the step to ask for public assistance.
“That is when I heard about the New Connections program (through Moultrie Tech).”
Williams says the NCTW program taught her job interview skills, customer service skills, grooming tips and how to have a positive self image.
She obtained her nurse’s assistant certification from Moultrie Tech in 1999 and began working at Tift Regional Medical Center.
But Williams says she dreamed of even more success. “I wanted to be a nurse.” However, her personal troubles weren’t over.
Williams says, “I was down on my luck and even spent time in jail,” accounting for the time that lapsed between getting her certification as a nurse’s assistant and beginning her studies to be a licensed practical nurse (LPN).
When she was able to pursue her LPN diploma, she began working as a nurse technician at Colquitt Regional Medical Center (CRMC) and attended classes at MTC day and night until her graduation in 2001, when she finished with a 3.9 grade point average.
But upon her graduation, Williams admits her criminal record almost prohibited her from sitting for the Georgia Board of Examiners of Licensed Practical Nurses exam, which is a requirement to work as an LPN.
Co-workers and physicians from CRMC wrote letters on her behalf to the state board. She was ultimately granted the opportunity to take the test, which she passed with flying colors. With her achievement Williams was hired as an LPN at CRMC on the medical-surgical floor in 2001 until her move to the emergency room in 2003.
“I know that prayer changes things,” Williams says. “Hope turned into desire. Desire turned into, ‘I did it!’”
Not content with staying put, Williams has plans to marry in the coming months and move to Florida where she will begin the registered nurses program at Tallahassee Community College.
She shared these parting words with the graduates, “Be the best CNA you can be. If you stay in the medical field, you can go anywhere.”
The New Connections to Work program is designed to assist single parents, displaced homemakers, single pregnant women and TANF recipients in accessing educational resources and employment in order for them to become self sufficient. The program provides assessment, skills training, counseling and referrals, job readiness training and employment placement assistance. For more information, contact New Connections to Work Coordinator Lisa Newton at (229) 217-4132.
Media Release-October 3, 2005
Contact: Jana Wiggins, Moultrie Technical College, Director of Marketing
(229) 217-4139 or (229) 891-7000
Lisa Newton, MTC New Connections to Work Coordinator
(229) 217-4132
Email: jwiggins@moultrietech.edu; lnewton@moultrietech.edu
