Wallace State Community College’s Department of Nursing Education recently celebrated the success of the first cohort of students completing the Practical Nursing certificate option at the Oneonta campus site, with a white coat ceremony at the Little Brick Church in Oneonta. Several area graduates were included in the ceremony.

The event marks the end of their time on the Oneonta campus and a future that could include starting a career as a practical nurse, continuing their education at the main campus in Hanceville to earn an associate degree or both.

“These students are pioneers,” said Deborah “Pepper” Hoover, chair of the Nursing department. “They have earned their practical nursing certificate and are eligible to take the license practical nurse licensure exam. As an LPN, they can obtain a full-time job and make a difference in the lives of their patients.

Local members of the inaugural nursing class at Oneonta include Kierra Jackson of Moody, Camryn Norman of Odenville, Shelby Wilkinson of Trussville and Porsha Foster of the Clay/Trussville area.

For students like Foster, the opportunity to take nursing classes at the Oneonta Academic Center was invaluable.

Foster is a wife and mother of five children ages 14 to 22 who has worked in the healthcare field for more than 20 years. During that entire time, she worked in the emergency room of labor and delivery for UAB, where she is a Patient Care Technician at UAB Women’s and Infant Center. She started working at age 18 and was a runner, physically carrying items to and from the lab and transporting patients.

It was during the COVID-19 pandemic that Foster thought about going back to school to become a nurse.

“I felt like I couldn’t do enough to help the nurses on our unit because at that moment, everything was uncertain and we didn’t know what we were going into,” she said.

As the number of patients increased and the nurses were stretched thin taking care of multiple patients and in patient’s rooms for longer times, Foster said she felt like she needed to do more.

“I thought I need to go back to school, I need to do this, and I need to help my unit,” Foster said.