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Students from the Annie Ruth Kelley Associate Degree Nursing program at Stanly Community College held their annual pinning ceremony on May 5.

In an effort to maintain social distancing standards due to the COVID-19 pandemic, SCC held the pinning ceremony outside on the Albemarle campus.

Graduating nurses walked across a stage and received their pins as faculty, staff, family and friends cheered them on.

SCC’s nursing program is named in honor of Annie Ruth Kelley, the first chairperson of the College Board of Trustees and the first woman to chair a community college board in North Carolina. Kelley served with distinction for 28 years as a college trustee.

Stanly Community College President Dr. John Enamait welcomed the students, family and friends to the pinning ceremony.

“We gather to celebrate the hard work, perseverance, and dedication of our students. The Nurse Pinning Ceremony would not be possible without the exemplary nursing faculty at SCC,” Enamait said. “This nursing faculty is the best in the state and the best in the nation, and it shows in our testing scores and through the job placement that our students recognize and receive every year. Our faculty are dedicated professionals who truly epitomize the caring and student centered philosophy that goes into a nursing program that is second to none. This dedication, year in and year out, has led to the achievement of some of the highest licensure rates in the country.”

SCC Board Trustee and Trustee Liaison for the SCC Foundation Lisa Burris was in attendance to help celebrate the graduates.

“We love this time of year. So many of these graduates have gone through so much to get here,” SCC Director of Nursing Chassity Washburn said. “Nursing students are resilient students, they’re dedicated students, they’re hard working students, and the pandemic wanted to put a kink in that, but if nothing else, it showed these graduates what they really can do.”

The 2021 Annie Ruth Kelley Associate Degree Nursing graduates include:

General Cohort: Katherine Anderson, Rebekah Baucom, Sydney Burnette, Megan Carpenter, Samantha Carter, Tyra Clayton, Charlotte Cochran, Amy Conn, Mary Dicky, Mariah Duckett, Sarah Glascock, Emily Greer, Hannah Grimland, Kristin Hatley, Joanne Ines, Kelsey, Salmon, Paying Vang, Madison Walden, River Woods and Kao Yang.

LPN to RN Cohort: Keli Avila, Angela Beach, Erika Bell, Jasmine Clowney, Sacha David, Kyla Emanuel, Justina Forester, Taylor French, Ciara Henry, Gorditra Moore, Laurel Mount and Erica Reep.

Visit the College’s Facebook page or YouTube channel to watch the complete Nurse Pinning Ceremony. Visit the College’s website at www.stanly.edu to view the graduating nurses’ photographs.