Cheryl Cicotti, nursing director for Seminole State, said the recently received money will go toward lab equipment and faculty. She said that contributions from the hospitals have helped the program grow.
“Over the past few years we’ve had five faculty members hired. This year will be our largest graduating class ever,” she said.
Cicotti said most of the money received over the past decade has helped the program expand its faculty.
It has also helped purchase simulation labs, high-tech mannequins and state-of-the-art equipment and technology.
Cicotti considers the hospitals “community partners” for all of the college’s health programs. She said they are active on the advisory board and many of the hospital employees are part-time faculty members that take students into clinical settings for teaching.
“Right now I have a full compliment of faculty because of the generosity of the partners and we are at maximum capacity for students right now,” she said.
The program takes in 250 registered nursing students, 36 practical nursing students, and 100 certified nursing assistant students per year.
“I think that we as a college are so successful because of the great relations we have with the community and corporate hospitals. We’re very pleased with it,” Cicotti said.
• The planetarium will show “Central Florida Nights” on Friday from 8:30-9:30 p.m. in the Sanford/Lake Mary Planetarium (Building B). Viewers will learn how to locate constellations and will show celestial events.
There will also be a “Skies Down Under: Southern Astronomy” show in room B-117 during the “Central Florida Nights” show on Friday. The show will highlight six to eight constellations only visible from Southern Hemisphere skies. This show will run from 8:30-9:30 p.m.
The weekend of Planetarium shows will end Saturday with “Sol,” a full-dome video about the sun. The show will be from 8:30-9:30 p.m.
Show prices are $6 for adults, $4 for seniors (55 and up), students (grades K-12) and for non-Seminole State college students with ID. Shows are free for preschoolers, Seminole State students, faculty and staff.
Samantha Dilday is the editor of The Scribe student newspaper at Seminole State College. She can be contacted at s.dilday618@gmail.com.