The Carr College of Nursing will host a reception on Oct. 21 in the Swaid Freeman Center to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the first college of nursing graduating class and two consecutive years of a 100 percent pass-rate on the National Licensing Exam for nurses.

According to Susan Kehl, dean of the Carr College of Nursing, every student in the Bachelor of Science in Nursing program have passed the National Council Licensure Examination (NCLEX) on their first attempt for the past five semesters. Harding is the only school in Arkansas with this kind of success in the past two years according to Kehl.

“We think it’s a cause to celebrate, so we are basically going to have 200 cupcakes,” Kehl said. “We invited specifically the graduates from the past three years but of course anyone is invited to celebrate.”

During this reception, the College of Nursing will also be holding a 40th reunion for the 1977 graduating class, the first class to graduate from the college of nursing at Harding. Kehl said that they have used social media to reach out to the students from this class and hope to see a good response.

“A lot of us still know the grads or see the grads in the hospitals,” Kehl said. “We just want to honor them for being the first class.”

Junior nursing student Sarah Cole said she spends most of her time preparing for the NCLEX. Her classes refer to the test often and set up everyday tests in the same format as the NCLEX. As a senior nursing student, they do not take finals, but instead spend a week reviewing for the NCLEX.

“Anything that I am learning in the classroom, in the clinical setting, or studying at home is me preparing for questions that could be on the NCLEX,” Cole said.

Junior nursing student Sheridan Gray says that she feels more confident about her own abilities after seeing the success of the classes before her.

“This program is one of the toughest out there and can seem tedious, but it’s for a good reason, and I think the previous years’ NCLEX scores prove that it works,” Gray said.

Kehl teaches a capstone class in which nursing students are introduced to a software that gives them 10,000 practice questions. Students practice 150 questions a week and also take practice licensing exams and review courses.

“I think they have lots of great opportunities,” Kehl said. “We have great students that are serious about nursing. They are serious about doing the right thing. They are serious about taking care of other people to the best of their abilities with excellence.”

The celebration will take place at 10 a.m. tomorrow. All are invited to attend to honor and celebrate the past and present success of the Carr College of Nursing.