Charleston Campus Inducts Members into National Technical Honor Society
By centuranews | March 9, 2010
On Friday, February 26th, 22 students from Centura College, Charleston Campus, were inducted into the National Technical Honor Society (NTHS). The students were nominated by their instructors and selected on the basis of their tenure, high academic performance, positive attitude, attendance, and work ethic. Katrina Varner, the Director of Education for Centura College, was the speaker at the induction. Tracy Owens, the school’s Student Service Coordinator is the NTHS advisor.
The National Technical Honor Society honors student achievement and leadership through the promotion of education and enhanced career opportunities. Founded in 1984, NTHS is committed to providing the highest quality recognition for outstanding students in career and technical education. 
New members (pictured): Front Row left to right- Rochita Garret, Rachael Thomas, Venice McCaden, Brittany Welch, Wakiesha Wickehem, Patricia Haynesworth-Gillians, Plural Sessions; Middle Row left to right- Jaime Warren, Sharon Pruitt, Yolanda June, Winnifred Greene, Tamara Smalls, Juanita Johnson; Back row- Gerald Rowlin. New members (not pictured): Karen Anuszkiewicz, Barbara Fields, Felicia Gaillard, Taneisha Gibson, Cheryl Goodreau, Joenell Jenkins, Erica Wilson, Mary Young.
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Virginia Beach Campus Conducts Instructional LIRN Workshop
By centuranews | March 8, 2010
The Centura College, Virginia Beach Campus, conducted a “LIRN Quarterly Workshop” on Tuesday, February 9, 2010, which was designed exclusively to target the research needs of students enrolled in general education classes. With a morning and evening session, there were 28 students in attendance from the psychology and critical cognition classes. Mr. Barbour, the school librarian, helped familiarize students with the state-of-the-art LIRN electronic databases and provided them with hands-on instruction using its millions of resources for scholarly academic research. Mr. Barbour began the workshop by demonstrating to students different searching strategies and ways to access the databases. The students found the ProQuest Psychology Journals module quite useful to their topics of study. They also learned to locate a wealth of relevant research articles in the Psychology Collection within the InfoTrac module. This collection comprises of over three million articles and 500 full-text journals alone. At the conclusion of the workshop, the students received guided practice while participating in a learning exercise to access relevant databases to their specific subject; to print electronic journal articles; and even to generate formal citations.
LIRN stands for Library and Information Resources Network, Inc. which is a consortium of educational institutions that share access to information resources. Currently enrolled students and instructors have access to this virtual library via the internet, providing additional academic and scholarly resources for their programs of study.
The “LIRN Quarterly Workshops” are conducted, by the librarian, for students enrolled in the school’s academic programs. Altogether, 87 students and nine instructors from the different programs of study have attended the workshops. As the enrollment continues to increase, participation by the students will continue to grow too. The participants receive certificates of completion while recognizing that LIRN is an important instructional tool to integrate into their program offerings here at the Virginia Beach Campus of Centura College.
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Norfolk Medical Assisting Student Shows True Commitment and Dedication
By centuranews | March 5, 2010
By: Sue Sullivan, MA Instructor
During my tenure at Centura College Norfolk, I have been blessed to know and to have taught many students. Several that would qualify as exceptional students but none more so than Kennysha Bond.
Kennysha was not only a delight to teach but also an inspiration to those around her including me. She came to class each day prepared, she was always on time and rarely missed a day. She was also a peer that her classmates would turn to when they needed help, not only scholastically but also in their personal lives.
What makes Kennysha stand out to me a little more so than others was her dedication to go the extra mile to accomplish her goal of becoming a Medical Assistant. As a mother of a young daughter, Kennysha’s discipline was extraordinary in her day to day sacrifices she made just to be in school each day.
In my experience of calling students and inquiring about their absences I heard many excuses as you may expect “my car wouldn’t start”,” I woke up late” or “I had to work late last night” and I have to admit after meeting Kennysha I realized if someone possesses a commitment to a goal they can reach it, whatever it may be.
Kennysha started each day early and ended each day late, she rode one bus to drop off her daughter at her day care provider and rode another bus to school. At the end of her school day she boarded another bus to take her to work, and yet another to take her to pick up her daughter at daycare. Then she and her daughter boarded the final bus for home. Kennysha could have given up many times from exhaustion or pity but instead chose to teach her daughter the value of hard work and the true meaning of commitment. Kennysha is employed as a Medical Assistant in an OB/GYN office now and has accomplished her goal of a better life for herself and her daughter. A true success story for Centura College Norfolk.
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Medical Students Attend ACTIVSim Training at Virginia Beach Campus
By centuranews | March 4, 2010
By Jeff Barbour
The Virginia Beach Campus of Centura College held an in-service to train medical students on utilizing the ACTIVSim software which is a useful tool for medical assisting students to hone in their skill competencies. On Thursday, January 28, 2010, Ms. Lara Kempton, Account Manager with McGraw-Hill Companies, showed the students how to register their software with a sign-in code and how to navigate the website. The in-service taught them the skills assessment program which allows the students to participate in an interactive environment while practicing their skills for patient documentation such as charting and communicating between the medical assistant and the patient. Such communication skills include obtaining history and other important information from the patient. The ACTIVSim program allows the students to have continuous practice through actual training over a two-year span. With this virtual office and exam room, the patient participates in stimulator exercises from blood pressure readings and vital signs; to diabetic screening and venipuncture; to obtaining a throat specimen and/or Strep A tests; and others.
The ACTIVSim software program provides feedback to the students on their progress with the three stimulators and 17 screenings! Moreover, the instructors have access to log into the ACTIVSim website and follow the progress of the students individually and by classes. The in-service training for the medical students was very beneficial in order to demonstrate to them the effective usage of the software. According to one of the medical instructors, Ms. Mary Morgan, “It is an excellent program with proven accuracy.”
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Virginia Beach Students in Art History Class Explore the Library Resources
By centuranews | March 1, 2010
The Virginia Beach Campus of Centura College conducted a library lesson for students to integrate the Library and Information Resources Network (LIRN) and other relevant library resources into their coursework in Historical Movements in Art. On Tuesday, January 26, 2010, nine students learned to research an artist using the Fine Arts and Music Collection Module of the LIRN databases, which consists of 200 full-text scholarly journals. Mr. Barbour, the Librarian, also showed students the collection of the Thames & Hudson World of Art books series which the students used to explore an artist of interest. To assist the students with writing academic papers, Mr. Barbour also explained to the class the importance of note-taking and writing proper citations. 
The students were shown handbooks and writing reference guides, which included the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association; Doing Honest Work in College: How to Prepare Citations, Avoid Plagiarism, and Achieve Academic Success by Charles Lipson; and the Oxford Thesaurus. The purpose of this library lesson was to prepare students for writing an academic style research paper. Ms. Brenda Houck, the Art Instructor, commented, “that the presentation was very beneficial to the students, and hopefully, they will be able to utilize the library resources in writing their formal papers and in their future research.”
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Richmond-Midlothian Student Shows True Commitment and Perseverance
By centuranews | February 23, 2010
By: Paula Jones Jackson
Eboni Gibson is an excellent example as to how determination and perseverance can pay off. Gibson enrolled in the Medical Assisting program at the Centura College, Richmond-Midlothian campus in June of 2008, enthusiastic about her future. Although optimistic, Gibson had to commute from the rural county of Blackstone, 60 miles from the school located in Richmond, Virginia with no means of transportation. Gibson was committed to attending school daily, with the dream of obtaining her associate degree, so she secured a ride to school with others whenever possible. Many times, her rides, the students, would drop out of school, forcing her to find other transportation. Arriving early and staying late many days, Gibson continued to pursue her degree even when obstacles attempted to thwart her dreams.
Mrs. Dale Seay, the Medical Assistant Externship coordinator was able to find Gibson an externship site close to where she resided. Transportation was still an issue, but exhibiting exceptional commitment to completing her externship, Gibson even walked when necessary. Gibson perseverance and enthusiasm impressed everyone at Alliance Family Practice, her externship site. After completing the externship, Gibson volunteered her services so that she could become more proficient in the areas she felt needed refining. Because she did not allow obstacles to prevent her from reaching her goal; Gibson proved herself and was hired by Alliance Family Practice. She has since taken the certification examination to become a certified medical assistant.
Gibson returned to campus to visit her instructors and the staff to thank them for all they had done to foster self esteem, pride, and confidence in her to help her become the employed medical assistant she is today.
Topics: Richmond Main | Comments Off
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