Portsmouth General Hospital School of Nursing - Lamp Yearbook (Portsmouth, VA)

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At last after three definitely ev.entful years, we are finally graduating. It’s June the eleventh; the church is crowded with proud parents, husbands, and boyfriends. Here we stand fifteen very proud and excited graduates. Now looking back to September 1964, it seems hard to believe that we have evolved fr om the frightened, wide-eyed freshmen that we were then to: the confident, somewhat matured candidates for the title of Registered Nurse. Remember that first week? The orientation dance at Frederick College was definitely one to remember. If that wasn ' t an event in itself, coming home to ransacked, overturned rooms was quite enough for one day’s experience. How could anyone forget Rat Day?” My how pretty we looked. But it was fun, all of it! We were busy that first semester. Classes and studies, both at the college and the hospital, hardly left time for anything else. There was a day in November when we worked on the hos- pital units for the first time. Goodness, only two hours to make a complete bed”; how could we get it all done? Then the holiday season was upon us, and before we knew it, it was exam time. Study! Study! Study! Does anyone know how to work this chemistry problem?” Hey, where is the Xiphoid Process? With exams over, we courageously plunged into the second semester even though we had lost four of our original thirty -one. June was here and the Frederick College classes were completed. The Juniors gave us a pleating party. It was difficult to figure out how to pleat our scarves, and they felt so awkward the first time we wore them. But awkward or not, they felt wonderful the night of our capping. Twenty-three freshmen were now ready to tackle the final semester of their Rat year. The summer passed quickly. Medical-Surgical Nursing and Pharmacology constituted the theory portion of our learning experience. Medical-Surgical Units provided learning experiences in the clinical area. September was here and now twenty-one determined girls began their Junior year. Academic pressures were somewhat relieved, but now we had to concentrate on our profes- sional skills. Working five-day weeks on the different units made us feel more like nursing students. Remember how good it felt to be able to initiate the new Rats ? So much was behind us, and there was so very much still on the horizon. What better way to start off our Junior year than to have two of our classmates installed as state officers in the Student Nurses Association of Virginia. December came all to soon. Vacation was welcomed, but now the class was divided. Half of us left Portsmouth for Sykesville, and psychiatric affiliation; the others began Maternity Nursing. How barren and far away Springfield State Hospital seemed, but the welcomed letters from good old P.G.H. kept us informed of the latest news and the experiences of maternity nursing. The snow was so deep it actually became a welcomed relief just to see the ground again. With the approach of June, our class was united again. Endless hours were spent in discussing epi- sodes” that occurred while room-mates and friends were separated. Summer passed quickly, but not without honor, for one of our classmates was chosen as Miss Student Nurse for District I. July, August, September, and then we wore black bands on our caps and were called Seniors. Our clinical assignments required more responsibility, and our classes became more advanced. Again we made the headlines. Another one of our class- mates became the first from this school to be sworn into the student nurse program of the Army Nurse Corps. Nursing of Children, Senior Learning Experiences, and evening and night duty kept us busy from December until June. At last that long awaited day is here. The graduation dance and the parent-daughter ban- quet have both successfully come and gone. Baccalaureate is over, and soon graduation will be a memory. For a brief moment we glance at the past, then one by one walk down the aisle to a future well deserved. Paula Hunt Rita Terry

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CLASS OFFICERS: Paulette Burch, Parliamentarian; Gail Crumpler, Chaplain; Carol Rice, Treasurer; Arlene Baines, secretary; Madlyn Culpepper, President; Winnice Boush, Vice-president ADVISOR; Betty J. Jackson