THREE VISIT SOUTHEAST A FIRST TIME TO GET DEGREES

Three students stepped foot on the Southeast Missouri State University campus for the first time Friday to pick up their diplomas.

The three are also the first graduates of Southeast's 2+2 nursing degree program coordinated with Three Rivers Community College in Poplar Bluff.

Despite a little trouble finding their way around the Cape Girardeau campus Friday afternoon, the students Sondra G. Reese, Nancy J. Shell and Miriam R. LeGrand each received a bachelor's degree in nursing. All three graduates live in Poplar Bluff.

Sondra Reese said Friday: "I had to find my way around to find my cap and gown. Everyone looked at me like I should know where I was going. But I had never been on campus. Everything was brought to us."

The 2+2 program started in January 1991, after officials from Southeast's Department of Nursing discovered a number of students who desired baccalaureate training but couldn't attend classes on the Cape Girardeau campus. The university decided to take classes to the students.

Students who have completed the two-year associate degree in nursing at Three Rivers, or who have equivalent training, may enroll in the Southeast bachelor-of-science-in-nursing program that is being offered in Poplar Bluff.

Poplar Bluff was selected as the site for the 2+2 Nursing Program based on the experience of Southeast and Three Rivers in successfully launching other cooperative ventures such as the Bootheel Educational Consortium and in recognition of the large number of nurses serving the health-care needs of the region in and adjacent to Butler County.

At the present time 18 students are enrolled. An additional eight students are expected to be accepted in the program to begin the fall semester.

"I couldn't have pursued this degree without the program," Reese said.

Reese was a registered nurse before starting the program and was working as a traveling nurse consultant. But she wanted to earn the academic bachelor of science in nursing degree.

"When I heard about this program I quit my job and took a $16,000 pay cut to pursue this degree," said Reese.

Reese said now that she has earned her bachelor's degree she plans to continue her education, earn a master's degree and become a geriatric nurse practitioner.

Without the 2+2 program, this goal may never had been pursued, Reese said.

"I just have this feeling that I would have gone along and never stopped to pursue this goal," she said. "I'm really grateful SEMO chose to bring their program to the market.

"They brought us the books and the registration information. We had no lines and small classes. It has been wonderful," Reese said. "I can't say enough good about the program. I'm so grateful to SEMO.

Miriam R. LeGrand of Poplar Bluff said classes were offered just five minutes from her home.

"I'm a 1990 graduate of the two-year program at Three Rivers, and I had a desire to go straight through and get my BSN," she said.

If the 2+2 program were not offered, LeGrand said, "I probably would have to be taking night classes, one at a time. It would have taken a lot longer. And I know a lot of people would not be able to do it because of the distance."

LeGrand explained that she, like the other two, worked full time while completing her degree.

"I have been able to work my classes and clinicals around my hours at work," she said.

Classes are taught in the evening and on weekends.

"This was a fantastic program with excellent instructors," LeGrand said.

"We had a computer set up with the SADI system at Southeast that gave us easy access to Kent Library through the Three Rivers library," LeGrand said.

"The clinical part was fantastic," she said. "The instructors set it up with the local medical community so we would be able to do our clinical at our own pace. And again, the hospital was just five minutes from my house.

"I plan on pursuing a master's degree in counseling," LeGrand said. "I hope to have a career in mental health or home health.

"When you tell people you have a BSN, you get an interview real quickly," LeGrand said. "I just can't believe it."

Nancy J. Shell had begun her studies in nursing at Southeast's Cape Girardeau campus, but then she and her family moved to Poplar Bluff.

"It would have been an hour-and-a-half drive back to Cape," she said. "It would be three hours on the road."

At approximately the same time Shell moved to Poplar Bluff, the 2+2 program was initiated.

"I would have eventually completed my degree," Shell said. "But it would have been a much longer time.

Southeast "offered the courses so the program could be completed in a shorter time span," she said.

Now she is looking at the master's program offered at Jonesboro, Ark., which offers weekend classes.