Friday, May 27, 2005 | 11:13 a.m.
If Nevada State College in Henderson has taught its graduates one thing, it's how to thrive in adversity.
The "less-than-ideal conditions" and flurry of criticism that surrounded the three-year-old college in its beginning days taught students "how to bend when the wind blows," as they navigated through their own personal storms, commencement speaker Janell Mihelic said. But just like the college, which sits on more than "500 acres of dirt" on the outskirts of Henderson, the students have a lot of potential, she said during Thursday morning's ceremony at the Henderson Pavilion at Liberty Pointe.
"If you put your mind to it you can build a castle out of sand or a college out of dirt," said Mihelic, the college's first student body president and first graduate to have completed all of her course requirements at Nevada State. "Just always remember to use your 500 acres of possibility."
Thursday's ceremony marked yet another first for the college as the inaugural batch of nursing graduates walked across the stage.
Out of the 85-member Class of 2005, 63 are nursing graduates -- 35 from the regular program who completed their degrees this month and 28 from the accelerated program who will finish in August, Connie Carpenter, director of Nevada State's nursing program, said.
The first batch of nurses is a major accomplishment for the college's nursing program, which received its own accreditation from the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education just two weeks ago, Carpenter said. The program earned accreditation in the fastest time possible.
The commencement, the third for the college, was also another stamp of validation for an institution that spent most of its beginning years defending its existence, officials said.
"Today's event is unshakable proof that our future is bright," said President Fred Maryanski at Thursday's ceremony, who began his tenure at the college in February.
"I think it signifies that Nevada State College has come of age and that we are doing for the state of Nevada what was intended, which was to educate teachers and nurses."
Thursday's graduation brings the total number of graduates up to 104, 16 of whom were teaching majors, Spencer Stuart, college spokesman, said. The college's first class graduated last May.
Other than Mihelic, the graduates have been transfer students, and the students in the one-year accelerated nursing program all came in with bachelor's degrees in other areas.
Just as the college struggled at first to get off the ground, several of its nursing graduates, many of them older students balancing work and family with the rigors of the nursing program, overcame personal struggles to accept their diploma Thursday.
For nursing graduate Hector Condarco, Thursday's graduation was the culmination of a longterm goal to be a nurse just like his older sister Mytee and his mother, Carmen.
But the ceremony was also a reminder that his mother, who died of lung cancer in November, wasn't able to be there to watch him walk across the stage.
"He really wanted her to be here," Condarco's father, Rudy, said, choking back a wave of emotion as he watched his youngest son march out of the outdoor pavilion following the ceremony.
The 25-year-old husband and father said helping his mother through her battle with cancer gave him greater empathy for his own patients.
"It was hard going from working in a hospice to seeing my mom ... but I think it helped me in the long run," Condarco said. "It helped me to be able to empathize and understand exactly what they were going through. I think I was able to help them as much as they were able to help me."
Many of Condarco's siblings kept it light on Thursday by wearing specially designed shirts saying "I'm here with Gaylord Focker," a reference to the male nurse Ben Stiller plays in the movies "Meet the Parents" and "Meet the Fockers."
Condarco is one of two male nurses who completed the regular three-year program. The other, Eric Lord, is a former Marine and paramedic. Another 10 males will graduate from the accelerated program in August.
The stereotype that nurses must be female is changing, Condarco said, especially in the emergency rooms where both he and Lord have already secured jobs.
"It (the stereotype) doesn't bother me whatsoever," Condarco said. "I couldn't have picked a better field to provide for me and my family."
Fellow nursing graduate Suzette Cruz, 39, also overcame personal adversity to earn her degree. Juggling school and work and family life was magnified by her dyslexia, which made it harder for her to study, Cruz said.
Dyslexia is a documented disability, so Cruz was able to have additional time on tests in a quieter setting to help her concentrate.
Cruz mimicked the words of many of her fellow graduates when she praised the college and its faculty and staff, who she said really showed they cared for the students and their learning process.
"It's been an awesome experience," Cruz, 39, said. "Everyone's been real close working together, there is individual attention if you need it, and the clinical settings have been great."
Several nursing students said they chose Nevada State because of the smaller classes and one-on-one attention. Also, unlike UNLV, there was no waiting list at the time to get into the program.
Graduate Maria Lopez, 25, even transferred all the way from Eastern Washington University because she said she had heard so many good things about the program and loved the personal attention professors gave.
Lopez is the first person in her family to graduate from college. She will be working in labor and delivery at Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center with the goal of eventually becoming a midwife.
Three years down the road, the college is now beginning to have to turn some students away, Carpenter said. About 265 students are in the program at any one time, and another class of 35 is expected to graduate in December. All of Southern Nevada's institutions are struggling to hire enough nursing faculty to meet the student need.
Students, meanwhile, are ready and willing to go out and help with the health needs of the nurse-starved community.
"I just think its exciting, I feel like a little kid and I'm almost 40," said Cruz, who said she's always wanted to help people as a nurse. "It's just a long dream come true for me. It's awesome."
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