In the News | Building the “Backbone” of the Community’s Healthcare
Norwich, CT (American Federation of Teachers Connecticut, May 11, 2017) — Business leaders in Connecticut are increasingly reliant on the faculty in our state’s public colleges to train and educate their future employees. Despite this growing need, many elected officials have reacted to mounting fiscal challenges by disinvesting in a proven source of effective and efficient workforce development. During the annual recognition of our nation’s public service workers, we’re spotlighting a union member who helps her students today prepare for good jobs tomorrow, despite mounting challenges.
Cindy Arpin, Assistant Professor of Nursing
Cynthia Arpin is a registered nurse (RN) and an assistant professor of nursing at Three Rivers Community College (TRCC) in Norwich where she also serves as a course coordinator. Her students are in the second of the four semesters that comprise the Community College Nursing Program (CT-CCNP) and which awards them an Associate in Science Degree upon graduation.
Arpin, who prior to her current role worked for nearly 20 years at the William W. Backus Hospital in Norwich, believes she provides pathways that benefit the whole region.
“Our nursing students graduate and become the backbone of our community’s healthcare system,” said Arpin, a member of our AFT Connecticut-affiliated Federation of Technical College Teachers. “If you walk the halls of either Lawrence + Memorial or Backus Hospital, you’re going to find a lot of TRCC grads,” added Arpin, herself an alum of the nursing program.
Arpin is part of a team at the Norwich campus that includes 12 full-time faculty, a dedicated lab nurse and a CT-CCNP director. They utilize a course of study that is common to the entire Connecticut State Colleges and Universities (CSCU) system and offered at five other locations in the state.
“We all have the same curriculum, but also have the ability to make it flexible to meet the needs of our particular demographics,” added Arpin. Many of her students are “non-traditional,” and face unique challenges, whether simply pursuing the program’s two-year associates degree or aspiring to a bachelors or masters degree in nursing.
Many students seek out the nursing program not simply to learn a trade, but, as Arpin puts it, “to fulfill a calling.” She added that she feels like she has “always been a nurse,” and went through the training in order to make it her vocation.
“I meet many students who feel that way, too — it’s a pleasure to work with all of them, but especially those who have a passion for nursing,” said Arpin.
Arpin and her team provide career training and instruction in the fast growing field of healthcare that is both cost-effective and accessible, making it a sound public investment. However, austerity budget policies at both the state and federal levels risk students’ ability to take advantage of opportunities currently provided by the public college system.
“It’s important to prioritize funding for our community colleges,” Arpin said, adding that CSCU’s degree programs make a higher education possible “for people who wouldn’t otherwise have the opportunity.”
Stripping resources away through misguided budget cuts risk “stripping away any chance of advancement for so many who can’t afford the big universities,” Arpin said. She added that disinvestment in programs like the CT-CCNP will make the region’s nursing shortage more acute, imperiling patients’ future care.
Watch a video where Arpin shares more about how she helps prepare the region’s next generation of caregivers:
For the second year in a row, national Public Service Recognition Week (PSRW) comes at a time of significant challenge for Connecticut’s state employees, municipal workers and local education professionals. While the annual acknowledgement is meant to celebrate the work of everyday heroes like Arpin and her colleagues, it’s also an opportunity to draw the attention of our elected leaders.
The Public Employees Roundtable (PER) each year coordinates PSRW to raise awareness, celebrate excellence and foster dialogue about the value of public service at the national, state and local levels.
The original article can be found here: ‘Building the “Backbone” of Community’s Healthcare’
READ MOREIn the News | Three Rivers graduates told to choose love over hate
For the Rickards family of Montville, all of that converged on the college green Wednesday as mother Susan Rickards, father Jim and son Hunter stepped onto the stage in succession to receive their associates degrees in general studies together.
The three were all taking classes at Three Rivers last year, when Jim Rickards made some mental calculations and announced that if they all pushed it, they could graduate together. For Jim, who started taking classes four years ago after getting out of the Navy, that meant taking summer classes last year to ensure he would have enough credits to don the black cap and gown with his wife and son.
Hunter Rickards works as assistant manager at Skechers in the Tanger Outlets at Foxwoods Resort Casino and Jim Rickards is a field services engineer for Minneapolis-based DC Group. Susan Rickards had been taking classes on and off while working and raising her family. She works as a job coach for people with special needs and figures to continue her education.
“There are a lot of other classes I could take,” Susan Rickards said.
Three Rivers President Mary Ellen Jukoski highlighted the stories of several of the 537 graduates in the Class of 2017 — 303 of them participated in Wednesday’s commencement — including the Rickards, in her address Wednesday.
Graduate Gabrielle Tetra-Bergeron didn’t have family surrounding her throughout her educational journey. She spent her entire life in foster care, but grew determined to succeed, Jukoski said. Tetra-Bergeron received a scholarship, became a member of the national society of leadership at Three Rivers and says the college gives her a “home-away-from-home feeling.”
Keynote speaker Jose B. Gonzalez knows that feeling. The former Three Rivers assistant professor of English, Gonzalez, a native of El Salvador who came to the United States knowing no English, currently is a professor of English at the Coast Guard Academy and an accomplished poet. His latest book of poetry, “Toys Made of Rock,” is a finalist for the International Book Award.
Gonzalez told graduates he loves returning to Three Rivers for the “community” part of the college’s name.
“It’s a college that I loved nearly 25 years ago, and it’s a college that I love to this day,” Gonzalez said, “and I use that word ‘love’ intentionally.”
Gonzalez made that word the center of his speech, urging graduates to embrace love over hate at a time when hatred and confrontation seem to dominate the country.
“We are at a time in which we consider people who use the word, ‘love’ as weak, but we view those who use the language of hate as strong,” he said. “And we have become so desensitized to the hate that we’re inhaling that we sometimes forget to exhale it.”
Gonzalez told graduates the “winds of hate” will try to push them back as they plow through life, but if they respond with love, they will become better students, better workers and better people.
Gonzalez then applied the word “hate” to more mundane situations, saying the graduates might hate their jobs or their work hours. But they should tell their bosses that they love their pay. “Everybody loves to get paid.”
The winds of hate, he said, have howled at him throughout his life. He hated one moment at Three Rivers, when, on a beautiful autumn day, someone came to his classroom to tell him his father had died.
“I hated the moments when people made fun of me when I was learning English, and the moments when others hated me for the color of my skin,” he said. “But it was my love for my brown skin that led me to study Brown Literature, and it was my love of language that led me to become a writer and a professor of English. We’ve got to love our skin and what’s inside that skin.”
Quoting a line that appears in two of his favorite books, “One Hundred Years of Solitude” and “A Raisin in the Sun,” Gonzalez said: “There is always something left to love.”
— By Claire Bessette, Day staff writer
The original The Day article can be found here: Three Rivers graduates told to choose love over hate
In the News | ‘Many of us came to Three Rivers to change our lives’
Norwich, CT (Norwich Bulletin, May 25, 2017) — Courses at Three Rivers Community College allowed graduates like Class of 2017 salutatorian Hannah Walsh the rare opportunity to explore their interests and the freedom to decide what path their lives will take.“Many of us came to Three Rivers to change our lives by changing ourselves,” Walsh told her classmates on Wednesday at the school’s 25th annual commencement. “We have succeeded in that today and have acquired new titles as graduates.”
Diplomas were given to 303 graduates at Wednesday’s commencement.
Keynote speaker Jose B. Gonzalez told the class to “run from the language of hate,” that some consider a strength, and to remember a line found in “One Hundred Years of Solitude” and “A Raisin in the Sun.”
Three Rivers Community College graduate Karen Sanquedolce, center, said she was proud to graduate with her daughter, Miranda Cirrito, left, and neice Heather Barber, all of Bozrah, Wednesday in Norwich. See videos and more photos at NorwichBulletin.com [John Shishmanian/ NorwichBulletin.com]
Gonzalez, an author and El Salvador native, is a professor of English at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy and taught at Three Rivers from 1993 to 1999. He said his visit Wednesday was like a homecoming.
“This is a college where I taught students who were as talented, as driven and as hardworking as any other students I’ve ever met,” he said.
Three Rivers President Mary Ellen Jukoski said each of the more than 500 total graduates of the class has their own unique story.
One family – James Rickard, wife Susan and son Charles – didn’t plan to graduate together. But all received their general studies degrees Wednesday night. Graduate Tom Baudro, age 72, earned a degree in technology studies, after previously earning three certificates at Three Rivers.
“Three Rivers is an amazing community of learners,” Jukoski said. “Celebrate your accomplishments and the promise of a bright future.”
— By Ryan Blessing
RELATED GALLERY
GALLERY: Three Rivers Community College graduation
The original Norwich Bulletin article can be found here: ‘Many of us came to Three Rivers to change our lives’
READ MOREThree Rivers Pinning Ceremony Celebrates 32 Nursing Students
Nursing Class President Tracy Sibley ’17 addresses her peers at the Nursing Pinning Ceremony.
On Tuesday, May 23, Three Rivers Community College held the twenty-fourth Nursing Pinning Ceremony. During the ceremony, 32 nursing students received their nursing pin, marking the completion of their nursing degree and serving as a symbol of their readiness to serve as compassionate professional caregivers.
The pinning ceremony opened with remarks by Mary Ellen Jukoski, President of Three Rivers, who said, “Congratulations on your perseverance and dedication. Our program requires study, fortitude and diligence. You are the cream of the crop, and I hope that one day one of you will be taking care of me.”
Edith Ouellet, Director of Nursing and Allied Health, urged the nursing students to “practice the art and science of nursing with your amazing minds and a loving heart, and always continue to build on what you have learned here.” The keynote speaker, retiring nursing faculty member Patricia Colonghi, echoed the sentiment to keep learning when she encouraged students to “continue your education. Your education will benefit your patients.” The nursing class president, Tracy Sibley ’17, got chuckles from her peers as she shared memories of the challenges they had all faced together. A candlelight recitation of the Nurse’s Pledge followed the presentation of the students’ nursing pins.
Three Rivers President Mary Ellen Jukoski congratulates the nursing students on their success.
During Three River’s Commencement on May 24, the students will be awarded an Associate of Science in Nursing. Upon completion of a licensing examination, the graduates will have earned the credential of Registered Nurse (RN).
Three Rivers graduates’ scores on the National Council Licensing Examination for Registered Nurses (NCLEX-RN) are consistently above the national average, with a three-year average of over 93%. Graduates also report a 100% job placement on the last three graduate surveys.
READ MOREDr. Jose B. Gonzalez to deliver Commencement address at Three Rivers Community College on May 24, 2017
Norwich, Conn.— Three Rivers Community College is pleased to announce that Dr. Jose B. Gonzalez, poet and professor at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy, will be the keynote speaker at the College’s twenty-fifth commencement ceremony, which will take place on Wednesday, May 24 at 5 p.m. outdoors on the campus green.
Speakers will include Mary Ellen Jukoski, President of Three Rivers Community College; William J. McGurk, member of the Board of Regents for Higher Education; Mark Ojakian, President of the Connecticut State Colleges and Universities, and Roxanne Tisch, faculty member of Three Rivers.
Three Rivers is proud to confer 528 associate degrees and 89 certificates to students this year. Three Rivers Community College congratulates all of their graduates.
Keynote Speaker: Dr. Jose B. Gonzalez
Dr. Jose B. Gonzalez is the author of the International Book Award Finalist, Toys Made of Rock. Born in El Salvador, he is a proud immigrant who once knew no English and now has a Ph.D. in English. He has been a featured speaker at colleges and universities throughout the country and has been a featured poet at the Smithsonian Museum of the American Indian, the Poetry Foundation, and international literary festivals. He has had his work anthologized in collections such as the Norton Introduction to Literature and The Wandering Song: Central American Writing in the United States. A Fulbright Scholar, he has been a contributor to National Public Radio. He is the co-editor (with John S. Christie) of Latino Boom: An Anthology of U.S. Latino Literature, and is the editor of LatinoStories.Com.
Currently a professor of English at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy, Gonzalez taught at Three Rivers Community College from 1993-1999 as an Instructor of English and as a tenured Assistant Professor of English. He taught Composition, Introduction to Literature, Speech, and developed the curriculum for Ethnic Literature of the U.S. and U.S. Latino Literature. He also served as an Interim Director of Continuing Education.
READ MOREThree Rivers Community College Nursing Lab Dedicated to Judith Cook Albright
On Wednesday, May 3, colleagues, friends and family gathered to witness the dedication and plaque unveiling of the Judith Cook Albright Nursing Lab by the Three Rivers College Foundation. The dedication recognized the recent establishment of the endowed scholarship fund, the Judith Cook Albright Nursing Scholarship.
(left to right) Standing in the Judith Cook Albright Nursing Lab are Vice President of the Three Rivers Foundation Board, Chris Jewell; sister-in-law, Karen Cook; brother, Ed Cook; Director of Nursing & Allied Health Edith Ouellet; President Mary Ellen Jukoski; husband, Charles Albright; sister, Princess Cook.
The newly dedicated nursing lab honors the life, memory and career of Judith Albright. She was a beloved Three Rivers Community College nursing faculty member from 2005 to 2016. She received the 2014 Nightingale Award for serving a critical role in educating Three Rivers nursing students and for demonstrating exceptional compassion through her mentorship and support of each student. Judith pioneered the implementation of the Sim Chart in the nursing curriculum. It simulated electronic medical records and was essential for educating the nurse of the future. Her clinical expertise in wound care management was invaluable in the classroom as well as the clinical setting. Judith lost her battle with cancer in 2016.
Chris Jewell, Vice President of the Three Rivers Foundation Board, said at the dedication, “Judith made a positive impact on many people and, as a result, is leaving behind a legacy that is true to her beliefs and values. Her family and friends recognized these beliefs and values and in turn have done their part to ensure her legacy will live on. We hope that naming this lab in her honor will also help to ensure that this legacy will span future generations.”
The Office of Institutional Advancement at Three Rivers worked with Charles Albright, Judith’s husband, to establish the endowed Judith Albright Nursing Scholarship. He generously donated $50,000 to ensure its success. Colleagues, friends and family across the country also contributed to the fund, which now exceeds $55,000. The first recipient of the scholarship, Sierra Kniskern, was announced on May 4. Donations to the endowment are welcome and can be made by contacting Betty Baillargeon, Director of Institutional Advancement at Three Rivers, at 860-215-9207.
Read more at the Norwich Bulletin.
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