For the fourth year in a row, every member of the graduating nursing class at LaGrange College passed the National Council Licensure Examination, the licensing test for nurses, on the first try.

According to the National Council of State Boards of Nursing, the average passing rate to date for 2012 is 92.79 percent for students in baccalaureate programs.

Dr. Celia Hay, Chair of the Nursing Department, said she is very proud of the hard work the students put in to prepare for the NCLEX.

“The nursing faculty also put in a lot of time helping students to focus on what it takes to pass the exam,” she said. “That starts in the beginning of the nursing curriculum. We make sure our students are well prepared, not only for the NCLEX, but for being caring and ethical nurses.”

When asked what she thought makes the nursing program at LaGrange College so successful, without hesitation, Dr. Hay credits the strong relationships that the program is able to foster between the faculty and the students. Dr. Hay went on to explain how the program’s open-door policy, and small class size also help to give students the attention that they need to excel in the nursing field.

Each January, Dr. Hay heads a senior travel program to London, to study the history of nursing. Dr. Hay emphasized that the trip enhances the students’ cultural experiences and gives them an opportunity to develop a greater appreciation of the nursing field.

In celebration of this continued remarkable success of LaGrange College’s Nursing program, the department’s faculty and staff were honored at Opening Session last week with a surprise presentation of a cake wheeled in on a hospital gurney.