Eastern Suffolk BOCES
Nurses Graduate with Host of Opportunities

Posted on April 19, 2012

Nurses celebrate graduation and Program Administrator Carol Powell is honored.


Commencement, simultaneously a culmination and a beginning, was celebrated as 150 Eastern Suffolk BOCES Career and Technical and Adult Education Licensed Practical Nursing (LPN) students graduated. Held in the Patchogue Theatre for the Performing Arts, the ceremony drew a large crowd. ESBOCES administrators and the nursing faculty led the Class of 2012 procession.

A new class of nurses (above) stands after entering the Patchogue Theatre.

Valedictorian Laurie Rao, described by faculty as a “compassionate, caring young woman who incorporates clinical practice and the nursing process with ease and excellence,” is a Sachem CSD graduate.

Laurie Rao (above) expresses excitement over being valedictorian.

The 17-month LPN program provides internships at affiliate hospitals and health-related facilities. Education opportunities include advanced college standing and associate and baccalaureate degrees in health-related fields. Representatives of Brookhaven Memorial Hospital Medical Center, Good Samaritan Hospital, John T. Mather Memorial Hospital, St. Charles Hospital, and Southampton Hospital serve on the Nursing Consultant Committee.

Music was plentiful during the 75-minute ceremony on March 22. Among the singers was Anne Mosten, a 2011 graduate, who sang “Kind and Generous” in honor of Carol Powell, the retiring Health Careers program administrator.

Anne Mosten dedicates a song to Carol Powell (center). With them is Debbie Epilone, who will be taking over as Health Careers program administrator when classes begin again.

Between the Recognition Awards and the Presentation of Diplomas, the nursing faculty “pinned” the graduates. Board President Lisa Israel and Assistant Superintendent of Educational Services Dr. Julie Davis Lutz offered congratulatory remarks, among others.

Seated on the stage with the nursing faculty are (left to right) newly-appointed Health Careers Program Administrator Debbie Epilone, ESBOCES Board member Jeffrey Smith, Deputy Superintendent for Educational Services Dr. Julie Davis Lutz, and Assistant Superintendent for Human Resources Dr. Terri McSweeney.

Retiring Program Administrator Carol Powell (above, second from left) stands with (left to right) Deputy Superintendent Dr. Julie Davis Lutz, and ESBOCES board members Jeffrey Smith, President Lisa Israel, and John Wyche.

Recitation of the Nurse’s Pledge and Creed and the song “One Little Candle” concluded the ceremony.

Graduate Stacey Grant of Wading River gets a hug from her daughter.

Ceremony Scenes
(beginning, during, and the end)
© 2013 Eastern Suffolk BOCES