On December 13, Southern Regional Technical College (SRTC) held its winter commencement ceremony at the Colquitt County High School Gymnasium. Graduation is an evening of celebrating and conferring degrees, diplomas, and certificates to students who have completed their respective credit and GED programs of study. This ceremony served to recognize over 500 individual graduates. Many graduates received multiple honors as certain programs have embedded certificates that are obtained when completing said program in its entirety.

SRTC chose special guest Mrs. Tricia Rich, RN, BSN to deliver the commencement address. Tricia Rich received her Associate’s degree in Nursing from Southern Regional Technical College in 2013. She went on to receive her Bachelor’s degree in Nursing at Thomas University in 2016 and is currently working on a dual Master’s degree in Nursing and Business administration and is expected to graduate from Thomas University in the fall of 2019. She started her nursing career 5 years ago at Archbold Memorial Hospital as a staff nurse. She has held both a charge nurse and assistant nurse manager role during this time at Archbold. She became part of the leadership team at Archbold two years ago where she is the nurse manager over the Cardiac Progressive Unit and Cardiac Observation Unit. She has been a member of the American Nurses Association, American Association of Heart Failure Nurses and the American Association of Critical Care Nurses since 2016.

Mrs. Rich spoke on the importance of technical education and the role it has played in her life, particularly how it provided a foundation for her medical education and enabled her to achieve the career success she has enjoyed to date. She encouraged students to continually strive for their goals and addressed the adversity young graduates may face, but implored them to always act ethically and professionally.

“These students have worked hard, persevered, and earned the accolades that they received during this commencement ceremony. We are continually proud of the quality of education that our faculty provide and the caliber of students that we are able to serve,” commented Dr. Craig Wentworth, President of Southern Regional Technical College.