CANYON More than 40 graduates from West Texas A&M University’s nursing program were honored at a pre-commencement observance.
The WT Department of Nursing’s annual pinning ceremony — held at 11 a.m. Dec. 8 in Legacy Hall inside the Jack B. Kelley Student Center on WT’s Canyon campus — recognized 61 students who graduated Dec. 9.
Pinning ceremonies are an opportunity to recognize the students’ hard work and dedication in their clinicals and in classwork, marking the transition from student to nurse, said Dr. Collette Loftin, interim head of WT’s Department of Nursing and the Nancy and John Kritser Professor of Nursing.
“Our pin is especially striking and is work with pride by all those who earn it,” Loftin said in a news release. “When we pin our graduating seniors, we are warmly welcoming them into the profession of nursing and the ever-growing family of WT nurses.”
Of the 41 graduates, 32 will work in Amarillo, while others have accepted jobs in Lubbock or elsewhere outside the Panhandle.
December 2023 graduates in the bachelor of science in nursing program who were pinned are (with hometowns):
- Sariah Breshun Battle, Lubbock; Citlali Botello, Dumas; Raylee Kathryn Brown, Nocona; Adam Caswell, Amarillo; McKenna Lynn Cavalier, Canadian; Raeann Elyssa Davis, Rockwall; Jentre Dawn Dollar, Amarillo; Georgina Montserrath Flores, Canadian; Jacquelyne Gallegos, Dumas; Hannah McKenzie Gibson, Amarillo; Savannah Grace Gibson, Canyon; Jacquelyn Hatley, Amarillo; Dakota Ethan Hernandez, Amarillo; Maggie E. Hernandez, Pampa; Klaire McKinleigh Jeffreys, Bushland; Katherine Annelise Jewell, Lubbock; Alejandra Maria Jurado, Albuquerque, New Mexico; Sarah Michelle King, Amarillo; Haley Marie Krauser, Post; Trista Jade Lawson, Bowie; Aubrey Madeleine Lewis, Amarillo; Gracie Elizabeth Liles, Amarillo; Wendy J. Lizardo, Amarillo; Chaney Cree McCuistion, Fowler, Colorado; Kitawny Shay Molina, Amarillo; Katelynn Ann Noel, Canyon; Kiven Peter Nsameluh, Amarillo; Valeria Pacheco Ramirez, Canyon; Shannyn Leighanne Payne, Odessa; Iliana Pecina, Amarillo; Annahi Ruiz, Stratford; Lia Yun E. Schneider, Amarillo; Sierra Autumn Schomp, Borger; Lauren Kate Segura, Dana Point, California; Cheyann Dreu Shadden, Abernathy; Kyra Anne Stevens, Lubbock; Jose Tellez, Dodson; Peyton Reese Watson, Tulia; Alyssa Abree Williams, Amarillo; Audree Brooke Wilson, Sunray; and Ethan Carter Zimmerman, Lubbock.
Established in 1972 and graduating its first students in 1974, WT’s Department of Nursing in its College of Nursing and Health Sciences currently provides about 70 percent of nurses employed throughout the Texas Panhandle.
WT nursing graduates, over the past five years, have averaged a 97 percent score on the National Council Licensure Examination, required by the National Council of State Boards of Nursing to test the competency of nursing school graduates in the United States and Canada. Nationally, the average is 85 percent; in Texas, it’s 87 percent.
Meeting regional needs, such as quality nursing, is a key component of the University’s long-range plan, WT 125: From the Panhandle to the World.
That plan is fueled by the historic, $125 million One West comprehensive fundraising campaign. To date, the campaign — which publicly launched in September 2021— has raised more than $125 million and will continue through 2025.
