MTC Tifton Campus Grandmother Among December Nursing Graduates
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Forty-two-year-old grandmother Shirley Jones of Tifton, right, is not the average nursing student.
According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, only 26 percent of all licensed practical nurses are black with the average age of practical nursing students standing at slightly over 30. But with a shortage of nurses on both statewide and national levels, Jones is likely to be welcome in the field despite her non-traditional status.
“Shirley is a strong, productive and assertive nursing student. I am very proud of her accomplishments,” said Moultrie Technical College Tifton Campus Practical Nursing instructor Tammy Groover.
Jones, who has two children and helps raise her two grandchildren, joined Groover, left, as they prepared to enter Withers Auditorium at Moultrie Technical College’s semi-annual commencement ceremony held Thursday evening, December 18. A National Technical Honor Society inductee and an MTC President’s List designee in 2008, she was honored with a practical nursing diploma at the ceremony.
Jones was among hundreds of her fellow MTC graduates, as the college recognized 220 allied health, business and computers, personal and public service, and technical and industrial program graduates in addition to over 170 adult education (GED) program graduates from its four-county service area of Colquitt, Tift, Turner and Worth.
MTC president Tina Anderson congratulated the summer and fall quarter graduating classes of 2008 as MTC Early Childhood Care and Education instructor and 2008 Rick Perkins Instructor of the Year award winner Kathryn Kent led the faculty, staff and graduate processional as the event’s marshal. MTC Board of Directors Chairman Will Vereen of Riverside Manufacturing and other members of the Board, Bill Boone of the Center of Innovation for Agriculture in Tifton and Cal McMillan of Milltown Banking Company in Lakeland, assisted the College's administration in the conferring of awards.
One of the highlights of the ceremony was the commencement address given by Dr. Ivan H. Allen, president of Middle Georgia Technical College.
The MTC faculty, staff and graduates also acknowledged the memory of Criminal Justice Technology instructor Brandon Back with a vacant chair and ribbon in the faculty seating area.
