Summer Classes Draw More Area College Students

It's summer time but the living isn't so easy for some area college students.Instead of relaxing, more and more students hit the books drawn by benefits of the off season.One summer school program helps not only students but society as well.More than seventy Southern Adventist University students will graduate this week. Among them, a dozen future nurses who took part in a pilot program where they attended classes only in the summer. These students are practicing for a celebration that symbolizes the end of a long journey...a pinning ceremony that will honor them as graduates in the field of nursing.Marla Sundean, Nursing Student, "This is kind of a mid-life career change for me and something I've wanted to do for a while but just had not and my husband's a nurse and we're going to do some traveling together.And while they'll take the same pledge, these aren't the typical Southern Adventist University Nursing Students.The timing of their studies sets them apart.Erika Hogans, Nursing Student, "I like the fact of the flexibility and the fact that I could come during the three months during the summer and have the fall and the spring off to spend with my family and children." Twelve students will graduate Thursday from the Summer Study Option, a pilot program to help fight the projected nursing shortage in Tennessee.Barbara James, Nursing Dean, "Tennessee is right at a pivotal time where the shortage is going to be hitting us more and more as 2007 ends and 2008 rolls in and the projections are that we'll be thousands of nurses short by 2020."With room for only 104 to 110 students during the regular academic year, the school had to turn away many qualified students.Now students have an option of attending 15 weeks of classes for three consecutive summers. B. J. Shelton, Nursing Student, "The big attraction first of all is availability. I tried many schools in Nashville and around here in Chattanooga and they were all a year to two year wait. Now it's just a matter of days before these nurse hopefuls become graduates and hopefully the real thing. The students must take the NCLEX test before they can practice as Registered Nurses.The nursing dean says the school will evaluate the pilot summers study option before deciding whether to continue it.