COLUMBIA, Columbia State Community College honored 43 nursing graduates in a pinning ceremony held in the Webster Athletic Center, closing out four semesters of classroom instruction and 540 clinical hours for every student who crossed the floor. The pinning ceremony is one of the oldest and most meaningful traditions in nursing education, a moment when faculty formally welcome new graduates not just as credentialed practitioners but as caregivers entering a calling that demands far more than technical skill.
Dr. Loretta Bond, Columbia State nursing program director, said the evening was memorable for everyone in attendance. Dr. Kae Fleming, dean of the Health Sciences Division, added that what these graduates carry into the field goes beyond clinical knowledge. Fleming noted that nursing school is about far more than mastering facts and completing checkoffs, and that the ability to learn continuously is a priceless skill for registered nurses, their patients, and the families they serve.
The program's numbers are worth a close look. Columbia State nursing graduates posted a 94.8 percent first-attempt pass rate on the National Council Licensure Examination in 2025, compared to a national average of 87.5 percent for associate degree nursing graduates the same year. The program's in-field placement rate within six to 12 months of completion stood at 99 percent as of 2023. Those are not soft statistics. They reflect a program producing nurses who are genuinely ready to practice and who find work when they graduate. Maury County graduates in the spring 2026 class included Aletha Parton, Jayleah Burchell, Katherine McCraw, Alisha Jones, Kyla Polk, Kayle Hie, Jebediah Roberts, Arielle Mayes, Sarah Anye, McKinley Woodard, Timory Shaner, and Sariah Sanchez.
These 43 graduates will now sit for the NCLEX exam to earn licensure as registered nurses. They will go to work in hospitals, long-term care facilities, clinics, schools, and home health settings across Maury County and Middle Tennessee. Maury Regional Medical Center, which anchors healthcare for this entire region, depends on a steady pipeline of trained nurses. So do the smaller clinics, home health agencies, and rural practices that keep care accessible throughout the county. Columbia State, sitting right there on Hampshire Pike, is doing the unglamorous and essential work of building that pipeline one cohort at a time. These 43 graduates are proof it is working.