Southern Regional Technical College (SRTC) Nursing program faculty recently reported that the Spring 2020 Associate of Science in Nursing (ASN) cohort at SRTC-Tifton represents the largest graduating class in the program’s history at this location. Twenty nursing students completed their coursework and clinical rotations during the spring semester. This class of nursing students will officially be Registered Nurses (RN) pending the passage of their board exams and will be invited to participate in SRTC’s formal graduation ceremony.

The students who completed the program together were Samantha Adamson of Tifton, Sarah Alfau of Tifton, Colby Bearden of Sylvester, Rachael Boney-King of Tifton, Kayla Brantley of Tifton, Morgan Carmichael of Tifton, Casey Jones of Ty Ty, Cristin Langford of Tifton, Kimberly Lovett of Thomasville, Erica Morton of Norman Park, Sharee Penix of Moultrie, Alicia Reid of Valdosta, Felicia Richardson of Tifton, Isaac Soto of Moultrie, Beverly Suggs of Moultrie, Nariah Thomas of Ashburn, Mary Thompson of Lenox, Caitlin Tucker of Poulan, Stephanie Vinson, of Valdosta, and MeLinda Williams of Ochlocknee.

Ty Ty student Casey Jones scored the highest on the Health Education Systems Incorporated (HESI) exit exam with a near-perfect score of 1241, which converts to a 99.99%. He said that the cohort worked together as a team to achieve success. “Tifton's ASN class of 2020 at Southern Regional Technical College is a class full of trailblazers, forging a path of firsts. It was hard work, but I have a good group to rely on. We studied together as often as we could. I am so lucky to have been a part of that!”

The program has been growing steadily largely in response to the incredible demand for nurses. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ employment projections, Registered Nursing is listed among the top occupations in terms of job growth through 2026. The RN workforce is expected to grow from 2.9 million in 2016 to 3.4 million in 2026, an increase of 15%.