Durant Public Schools, Southeastern Oklahoma State University and Murray State College signed an agreement Dec. 6 that will allow high school students to take nursing courses for college credit.
Durant Superintendent Mark Moring said this was a great day to be in Durant and that is he is excited to announce new programs for the school district’s students.
“We always work to and strive to new programs to make our students successful” Moring said. “I am so excited here today to announce a new partnership that we’ve created. So, students at Durant High School, our motto is, one team one family, and that family consists of our students, our parents, our faculty members, our city, our county, local banks, Choctaw Nation and Southeastern Oklahoma State University.”
Moring thanked Southeastern President Thomas Newsom for being present.
“What a great partnership we’ve had with the university throughout the years through current enrollment of our students, through sharing the facilities and just trying to make our area the best it could possibly be.”
Moring spoke of how the program came to fruition.
“I’m the new superintendent, four months into it, and I was touring a lot of the buildings,” he said. “I ran into Mrs. (Lou Ann) Lively and Mrs. (Blaklyn) Geiger one day and they teach our health-science students. Our health-science program is an absolutely phenomenal program.”
Geiger and Lively mentioned a program to Moring that is in the metro area where high school health-science students can take college courses to go toward an associate degree. Moring then contacted Murray State President Tim Faltyn, whom he had previously worked with at another school where they had the exact program. Moring told Faltyn this was the exact program that Durant Public Schools needed.
Moring then contacted DHS Principal Cheryl Conditt and Beth Bean, the school district’s curriculum director.
“They took the ball and just ran with it,” Moring said. “We are striving to give our students at Durant the same opportunities that all students across the state have and we’re excited to announce this partnership.”
Faltyn also expressed excitement about the partnership.
“If I have a message for anyone, it is that when you add educational possibilities to any community, you don’t just change the trajectory of the person who gets the degree,”Faltyn said. “You don’t just change the trajectory of the person who gets the credential. What you really do is you build confidence. You build confidence in that individual and their earning potential and their professional potential gets nothing but bigger and better and everything goes and that has a generational impact lifting everybody in the community. Everybody in that family going forward.
“That’s the reason we do what we do. I know all of the board members that are here from Durant Public Schools feel that way, otherwise you wouldn’t have committed yourselves to that.”
Newsom spoke of the partnerships in the community.
“We talk about families because we really see our connection with each other and our connections that builds our community, builds our region and families. Today is a historic day as we build a new pathway for our family to be better. For our families to get stronger and for our families to have a more sustainable success.”
Dec. 5 was a historical day for Southeastern because the State Regents approved the university’s ability to award doctoral degrees in business and the first-ever nursing program that is Registered Nurse to Bachelor of Science in nursing, according to Newsom.
“The nursing program is particularly significant with this signing this morning because as Mr. Moring talked about the nursing and Allied Health program here at Durant High School and those feeding into Murray State College and Murray State’s program,” Newsom said. “Specifically, that is operated on the Southeastern campus and their RN program at Southeastern. Murray and Southeastern have trademarked that and then that program will now be able to feed into a master of science and nursing.
“It is a completion program specifically for those Murray State students who are already on our campus and others across the state and across the nation who want to complete their BSN.”
Newsom noted that Murray State is the No. 1 transferring institution to Southeastern.
“We’re proud that we have students that seek a quality education at both of our institutions to go on and do great things in their lives that have an impact on their families, their friends and everyone they touch, and ultimately, that is truly the measure of our success,” Newsom said. “It’s not what those students do while they’re on our campus, but what they do when they leave us and the difference they make in their own lives and the lives of others in our community.”
DHS students Maggie Marteens and Mary Holland spoke, both expressing excitement for the program.
“I’m a freshman here at Durant High School and I wanted an opportunity to be more involved,” Marteens said. “I’m very interested in the medical field.”
Holland said this is an amazing program and she feels blessed to be a part of it.
“This program will help me and many others achieve our goals for higher education,” Holland said.
