SPC Hosting Nursing Open Houses

ST. PHILIP’S COLLEGE NURSING EDUCATION PROGRAM OPEN HOUSES IN SAN ANTONIO AND NEW BRAUNFELS-SEGUIN LOCATIONS OCT. 16

Simulators, hands-on training, affordability enhance appeal of 70-year-old San Antonio and New Braunfels programs

The 2018 San Antonio and New Braunfels-Seguin area recruitment season for St. Philip’s College’s 70 year-old nursing programs begins with two free open house and information sessions on Oct. 16. With two open houses available, the public can choose the location closest to their home and their career plan. 

The open house for the college’s Licensed Vocational Nursing, Level 2 Certificate and Nursing: Career Mobility-LVN to RN, A.A.S./Military to RN, A.A.S. programs in San Antonio begins at 5:30 p.m. in Rooms 221 and 226 of the college’s Center for Health Professions building at 1801 Martin Luther King Drive. The college’s San Antonio open house session details are available online.

The open house for the college’s Licensed Vocational Nursing Program in New Braunfels begins at 5:30 p.m. in the Central Texas Technology Center building at 2189 F.M. 758. The college’s New Braunfels open house session details are available online.

St. Philip’s College has been operating nursing education programs since the 1940s. The commonalities of both open houses at the multicampus college are that visitors receive information on prerequisites for the programs as they meet faculty and staff and see the advanced classrooms for each program. More than half the college’s 120-year business lifetime---70 years of service---includes a Registered Nursing program that has undergone an entire revision of its curriculum. About one-third of the entire student clinical experience is in the St. Philip's College Dr. Frank Bryant, Jr., Patient Simulation Center and Nursing Laboratories, with two-thirds in real-word/real-time at medical facilities in the local area. The core of the sim training is an eight-bed sim-hospital, used by classes of students who are new and experienced veterans of the medical world, preparing to earn academic credentials and awaiting the opportunity to test for their licenses to practice.

The vocational nursing program prepares entry–level vocational nurses to provide safe, compassionate nursing care in a variety of settings. Most program alumni seek employment in long–term, acute, ambulatory or home health care. Many continue their education with professional goals of obtaining either an associate or bachelor degree as a registered nurse.

Open house visitors will be able to experience how students in both San Antonio and New Braunfels benefit from contact with experienced professionals---in class, in clinical settings off-campus, and with operators of such advanced training aids as computerized nursing simulation mannequins. Just as a pilot first learns to fly in a simulator that poses no danger to people, open house visitors will be able to see how the college programs lifelike simulators to train students to perform their jobs by themselves and as a team. Visitors will also learn about financial aid, student membership in the college’s Vocational Nursing Student Association, and community service opportunities in such programs as the most important mass casualty exercise in the city. 

"Our recruitment effort for certificate candidates begins with our nursing education open house programs,” added Jessica Cooper, Dean for Academic Success, Health Sciences at the college. “We are inviting potential certificate candidates to see how we make the area’s talented students better through excellent simulation technology and clinical experiences in leading area hospitals,” said Cooper.

Location, modernization, quality of experience, low tuition and a legacy of student success are among the most attractive factors potential students will want to discuss with the staff at both the main campus. This summer, the college’s first standalone pinning ceremony for 19 students in the college's Licensed Vocational Nurse-to Registered Nurse program also included the first former service member to enroll and first to graduate from the college’s LVN to RN/Military to RN Mobility Program.

Amanda Sheffield and Valerie Moke are nursing faculty members at St. Philip’s College, and their many graduating students include alumni of the historic class of 2018. “Every one of our students is going to make it,” said Sheffield. “We are in a national nursing shortage and they can look forward to having jobs from the emergency room to flight nursing and airlife. A few have applied and some have been accepted into bachelor's degree nursing programs. They have been building resumes. We know what the industry is looking for. It’s our students,” Sheffield said. 

Visitors can prepare for their open house experience by viewing certificate program details online and visiting the campuses in advance. For details, reach out to the following contacts:

• 2018 SPC SAN ANTONIO SESSION CONTACT: Veronica Furlow | Vocational Nursing Program Coordinator | 210-486-2724 | abailey@aplrealestate.com
• 2018 SPC NEW BRAUNFELS-SEGUIN SESSION CONTACT: Annette Bailey | Vocational Nursing Program Coordinator | 210-486-2724 | abailey@aplrealestate.com
• SPC NURSING EDUCATION DEPARTMENT CONTACT: Dr. Rhonda Webb | Department Chair | 210-486-2158 | rray5@aplrealestate.com

See the historic class of 2018 nursing students before they graduated at the GreatDay SA story by show co-host, reporter and associate producer Roma Villavicencio Start Your Nursing Career Now – St. Philip’s College here. (Archival SPC image of nursing students by July Sosa)