Florida Southern College seeking more property to accommodate increase in nursing program enrollment
The college is looking at ways to expand its rapidly growing nursing program.
and last updated 2021-05-14 19:49:16-04
LAKELAND, Fla. â A Polk County college is in need of more space for itâs rapidly growing nursing program.
âOne of the most compassionate and hardworking professions. We didnât choose to be nurses, weâve been called. Now we have proof with our degree that we are nurses,â said Kelly Farrell, Florida Southern College graduating nursing class of 2021.
Friday Florida Southern College held a virtual pinning ceremony for its graduating nursing class of 2021. The college is seeing a high increase in students wanting to enroll in its nursing program and its partly due to the pandemic.
The college is quickly running out of space inside its Joe K. & Alberta Blanton Nursing Building on Johnson Avenue. When the 8,600-square-foot building was constructed in 2008, Florida Southern didn t offer any graduate level nursing courses. Now, Dennis said the college has about 125 graduate students and offers four levels of courses. Our goal is to keep undergraduates near the middle of our campus, while moving the graduate program a little bit off, he said. We would have the room to properly expand both programs.
St. Joseph s Academy closed its doors in late May 2020. The Very Rev. Timothy LaBo told The Ledger the economic challenges of the pandemic left some parents unable to pay tuition, leading to a decline in re-enrollment. The decision was made to shutter the school and merge with existing schools in Polk County.
However, that is presently not the case, nor is it likely to be in the next couple of years. “We don’t have a staffing problem now. We did, we have had staffing concerns, but not now,” said Ross Fisher, Executive Director with the Health Foundation, who first brought the proposed move to the attention of Yorkton This Week. Fisher said last fall three new microbiology laboratory technician students began training and will soon have completed that and will be offered positions here. In addition, four techs are “coming back off mat (ernity) leave,” said Fisher. And while there has been concerns about aging staff retiring, Fisher said he has learned only one technician is eligible to retire in the next two years, and that individual has indicated they are not looking to leave at this time.