GCSU grads will serve across the state after commencement

Nursing graduates Madison Townsend (left) and Hannah Pelt outside the College of Health Sciences building. (Photo: Anna Gay Leavitt)

By Gil Pound

N early 400 Bobcats will don graduation regalia and join the ranks of Georgia College & State University alumni Saturday.

Soon after, Hannah Pelt and Madison Townsend will trade their caps and gowns for scrubs as they put their nursing degrees to work. The duo are Georgia College's first graduates of the Lettie Pate Whitehead Foundation Nursing Scholars Program, which provides full four-year scholarships - housing, meal plan and books included - to qualified students.

"Saving that money has really opened a lot of doors for me post graduation," said Townsend.

The Warner Robins, Georgia, native is moving to Atlanta to be a nurse at the Arthur M. Blank Hospital - Children's Healthcare of Atlanta's technology-dependent intensive care unit.

"It might be hard, but the Lettie Pate Whitehead scholarship program taught me that hard isn't always bad," Townsend said. "It means you're growing."

Townsend added that her time in the GCSU School of Nursing was highlighted by a course on community health where the future nurses learned care doesn't necessarily begin in a hospital setting. Sometimes it's meeting patients where they are, before a major need arises. As a fourth-semester nursing student, she and her classmates also traveled to Anniston, Alabama, where they were trained by the Federal Emergency Management Agency in disaster response and emergency preparedness.

Outside of the classroom, Townsend spent a term as vice president of philanthropy for her sorority, Zeta Tau Alpha. She led a campaign that raised $75,000 in one year for mammograms and other breast cancer services for those in need in Middle Georgia.

"I feel like I grew a lot as a leader at Georgia College," Townsend said.

Townsend's fellow Lettie Pate Whitehead grad Hannah Pelt is bound for St. Joseph's/Candler Hospital in Savannah where she will work on the intensive care stepdown unit, helping patients transition from the ICU to regular care. While visiting the hospital during the interview process, Pelt said she got the same feeling as when she first stepped onto the Georgia College campus - it was where she belonged.

Pelt says she feels ready for the career field thanks to clinical rotation placements that began her first semester in the nursing program. She learned by doing the job she was training for, and by completing shift assessments and the tedious, but necessary, care plans.

"The nursing program here is one of the top ones in Georgia for a reason," said Pelt. "It's given me peace of mind that I can do what comes next because it has prepared me so well. The teachers are really invested in how you're doing. If you need help, they will help you no matter what. They prepared me to think critically."

Sheriff Massee advises GCSU senior Olivia Crawford at Baldwin County's Real Time Crime Center. (Photo: Anna Gay Leavitt)

Both graduates sing the praises of the Lettie Pate Whitehead Foundation Nursing Scholars Program. There are 27 Georgia College students in the program this year receiving a combined $400,000 in full scholarships. The Lettie Pate Whitehead Foundation aids college students at some 200 schools across nine southeastern states. GCSU is one of only 14% of those schools that has developed a cohort model, unlocking larger, recurring scholarship awards for its students.

Badge and gown

Also seated among Saturday's graduating students will be Bill Massee, a Milledgeville native and Georgia College alum ('70) who is serving his 10th term as Baldwin County sheriff.

The veteran lawman is anything but stuck in his ways, though. He constantly seeks out innovative ideas and new technologies to keep his community safe. More than half a century since earning his bachelor's in business administration, Massee is being awarded a master's in criminal justice.

"I was totally impressed with the competence of the professors in this program as well as the students," Massee said. "The students were much younger than I am, but I was impressed with their intelligence, computer technology and educational skills."

After not walking in his initial GCSU graduation, Massee is looking forward to participating this weekend.