Each spring we pause to recognize one of the most extraordinary components of our college communities—our Heroes of the Heart; nursing faculty and students. This metaphor was forged to honor the heroic efforts of nurses across the country who brought all of us safely through the pandemic. May is National Nurses Month, but the American Nurses Association has designated May 6 – 12 as National Nurses Week. Both timeframes recognize a stalwart group of individuals who embody compassion, knowledge, discipline, and grace in equal measure. CCBC proudly joins colleges across the country in shining a well-deserved spotlight on our nursing faculty and our nursing students.
Community colleges serve as the engines that staff the hospitals and medical facilities in their regions. In the spirit of “it ain’t bragging if it’s true,” I am proud to say that CCBC is the largest provider of nursing and allied health care education and training in the state of Maryland. Through our School of Health Professions, we educate and train thousands of health professionals each year who deliver critical care at every level—hospitals, clinics, schools, and homes—across our state. The stature of these programs is no accident; it is affirmed daily by the hospitals and medical centers that turn to their community colleges to prepare a continuous crop of nurses with each graduating class.
At each of our college’s nursing pinning ceremonies (and we do 11 each year), my request to our graduates is always the same: that they practice their craft with their hearts as well as their heads. If any profession understands this phrase, it is our nursing faculty and the graduates they prepare. At one of these pinnings, a speaker shared an image that has become one of my favorites. She described nurses as “angels in comfortable shoes!” A perfect description: well-trained medical professionals who walk quietly while carrying strength, grace, and care in every step. Every year America’s community colleges proudly graduate tens of thousands of these very special “angels.”
It is not only right, but it is important for all of us to thank and congratulate nursing faculty, students, and graduates for choosing to travel such a difficult path. For most of us, this just might be one road that would be too difficult to travel. But nurses make this choice because they love their profession. We can all be rightfully proud of the role America’s community colleges play as the doorway to a challenging but vital profession. In fact, whatever would we do without them!
Happy National Nurses Week!