GSCC accepting LPN students for classes in Centre

By Scott Wright

GADSDEN — As construction of the new Gadsden State Community College campus in Centre continues, officials in the Health Sciences Division at the school’s Wallace Drive campus in Gadsden are preparing to accept up to 40 new students into the nursing program when classes begin there in August.

Construction schedules call for the academic complex to be completed by the end of July.  Gadsden State officials are busy ordering teaching equipment and other supplies, completing teaching schedules and preparing to move into the facility as soon as construction is complete.

Students have until May 1 to apply either at the Gadsden campus or online for acceptance into the licensed practical nursing (LPN) program at the Centre campus.  To meet requirements for consideration, students must have a 2.5 grade point average in either high school or college courses, copies of college or high school transcripts, and a minimum score of 76 on the reading portion of the Compass placement test.

“The Compass test evaluates skills in writing, reading and math,” explained Health Sciences Assistant Dean Connie Meloun.  “Students can take the Compass test at any of our campuses including the Cherokee site where the test is given Monday through Friday at 9 am and 1 pm.  It’s a computerized test that takes 1-2 hours to complete.”

Meloun said she’s planning to schedule at least three nursing instructors to work at the Centre campus this fall semester.  One instructor will focus on health assessment skills and another will teach pharmacology, while another instructor’s primary responsibility will be fundamentals. 

“They’re all going to work together,” Meloun said.  “The students won’t have one instructor; they’ll have different ones who all work together to teach the skills they’ll need to learn.”

Meloun also said she has requested a $50,000 video-teleconferencing system that will allow courses being taught in Gadsden to be observed by students in Centre, and vice versa.

“We already have that capability at our other campuses and we’re hoping to have it installed in Centre, as well,” she said.

Meloun said anyone interested in attending the LPN program at the Centre campus of Gadsden State should begin the application process by visiting the website (www.gadsdenstate.edu).

“Click on Academics, then the Health Sciences link,” Meloun said.  “Then click on the Nursing Education link to get to the application and the information needed to apply to the LPN program.”

“They can call the Cherokee County Center at 256-927-7512 to set up a time to take the Compass,” she said.

Meloun said it’s not too late for someone who thinks the LPN program might be the right career move to begin the process of applying for acceptance for fall classes.

“Right now, students have until May 1 to get all of their information together to apply for the LPN program, and that should be plenty of time to do what they need to do,” Meloun said.  “Anyone who has any questions is welcome to call either me at 549-8321 or Pam Mayo, our nursing advisor.  Her number is 549-8257.  It’s her job to help nursing students get together everything they need and help guide them in the direction they need to go.”

It’s going to be a wonderful complex with some of the most advanced equipment and training tools we can afford to buy,” Meloun said.  “We’re going to have the nicest nursing lab in the area.”

Meloun said the three-semester LPN program is intense and time-consuming.  But she said the Nursing Education Program works with students to offer as many nursing classes as possible every semester in order to accommodate different lifestyles, commitments, and schedules.

“A lot of our students have work and families and a lot of other responsibilities and we do offer an ‘alternative track’ for them, so we can create a plan for them so they finish the program in four or five semesters instead of three,” she said.  “We’ll do our best to work out a plan to help them complete the program in the shortest amount of time possible based on their situation.”

Meloun said the cost for the LPN program is $90 per semester hour, and the program consists of 49 credit hours. 

“We have classes that are time-consuming,” she said.  “For example, Nursing 102, which is nursing fundamentals, is a six-credit-hour course, but they spend a total of 12 contact hours each week for class, lab and clinicals.”

Meloun said she’ll consider Gadsden State’s first year in its new home in Centre to be a great success if a majority of those first-year LPN students complete the program and begin their nursing career.