Savannah Kowing
For The Broadside

This year 140 applica¬tions for the Central Oregon Community College nursing program were received in the admissions office. COCC will only be accepting 48 students into their nursing program in the 2010-2011 school year.

At a meeting held on April 27 in the Boyle Edu¬cation Center at COCC stu¬dents were given information about how to go through the admissions process for the nursing program. The meet¬ing was run by Seana Barry from the COCC admissions department in order to re¬view the procedures involved in selection for the program. Due to the limited number of positions available Barry gave prospective students the information needed to give them a good shot at the program.

The number of students in the nursing program at COCC will be going up in the 2010-2011 school year when compared with the number of admitted students in the 2009-2010 year. Ad¬mission requires acceptance into COCC and acceptance into the nursing program. Ap¬plications are reviewed and given points according to a series of short answer ques¬tions, the Test of Essential Academic Skills exam, and supporting courses taken.

Barry also informed the group that 140 applications had been received this year and more were to be expect¬ed in the upcoming year.

“I grew up in the area and just wanted to be a nurse my whole life,” said Trini An¬derson, a participant in the meeting, about why she was interested in the COCC pro¬gram as opposed to other programs in the state.

The nursing program has been growing over the past few years from 36 students in 2008, 45 in 2009, and 48 in the upcoming 2010 school year. Students who apply for the COCC nurs¬ing program can choose the level of education that they wish to receive there. Among the options of degrees that Barry mentioned were the licensed practitioner, regis¬tered nurse, and family nurse practitioner certificates and degrees.

“I feel that my outstand¬ing grades, my large variety of extra-curricular activi¬ties, and great work ethic will put me at the top of the list of those accepted,” said Daniel DesJardin, a student looking to apply to the COCC nursing program in the fall of 2010.

You may contact Savannah Kowing at [email protected]