GERMANNA NURSING STUDENTS GIVE COMFORT TO THE DISADVANTAGED DURING HOLIDAY SEASON

Left to right, Germanna student nurses Meaghan Gallagher, Kristen Fisher, Erica Duggins, Lindsey Haun and Emily Causley help out at Holiday Dinner for the needy at Fredericksburg Baptist Church.
Twenty four second-year nursing students from Germanna Community College served up holiday dinners for an estimated 400 people, many of them homeless, at the Fredericksburg Baptist Church last week.

One of the GCC students, Lindsey Haun, a Chancellor High grad, is the daughter in law of the church's pastor, Larry Haun.

Rev. Haun said he considers more than 500 children in Fredericksburg to be homeless, since many of the live week to week in city motels.

For Dec. 18's Holiday Dinner at the church, "When we opened the doors, the were lined up all the way around the block," Rev. Haun said.

"It was awesome that so many nursing students from Germanna came to help," Rev. Haun said. "I'm not sure what we would have done had they not shown up."

Germanna student nurses at the church were residents from all over the Fredericksburg area. Among them, Meaghan Gallagher is a Massaponax High grad, Kristen Fisher a graduate of North Stafford High, Erica Duggins a Courtland High grad and Emily Causley a Chancellor High grad.

On the same night, first-year nursing students from Germanna were serving holiday meals to about 200 children at the Fredericksburg Boys & Girls Club.
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Hundreds learn about Germanna and Dual Enrollment at College Tour event

Riverbend High School student Heather Aylesworth and her mother, Tina Harris, talk with Germanna's Canice Graziano about nursing and dual enrollment during College Tour night at Spotsylvania Towne Centre.


Sixteen-year-old Riverbend High School sophomore Heather Aylesworth may be too young to head off to college yet, but she's not too young to plan for the day she will.

Heather, who wants some day to be a pediatric nurse at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, plans to begin her nursing studies with the program at Germanna Community College.

Her mother, Tina Harris, says it'll be nice to have Heather at home early in her college career.

But even before she leaves Riverbend High, she'll be getting a head start toward that goal by earning college credit through Germanna's Dual Enrollment Program.

GCC Coordinator of Dual Enrollment Canice Graziano says Heather will be taking DE English Comp and DE Pre-Calculus to earn college credit at her high school.

"Because she's planning so early she'll be able to take advantage of earning up to 12 college credits at Riverbend," Graziano says.

Heather was one of 300 students who stopped by the Germanna table to pick up materials and ask questions and GCC was one of dozens of colleges to participate in the event.