CCON Alumni

"I have wonderful memories of my time at Columbia and I'm grateful for the education I received there. It was a different time for nursing education, and I am amazed by the work nurses are doing now. Very proud to say I was a nurse!"

— Donna '59

"Favorite memories include classes, lunch/dinner dates, clinicals with some of my now closest friends. I went to school to become a nurse and left with a degree and friends who became like family."

— Kaitlyn '19

"Our class graduated at the end of the summer 1960. We made friendships that have lasted a lifetime. We slept, ate, studied, worked, played and even got into a little trouble together. We had hours 10pm on weeknights, 12 on weekends and room inspections. We staffed Columbia Hospital from our first summer until graduation working 7am to 12 noon and 4pm to 7pm three to four days each week, classes one day. We had one weekend off each month. We were in the hospital to see to the feeding of patients for breakfast, lunch and supper. We were at Cook County Hospital in Chicago for our psych rotation and Milwaukee Children’s for our pediatric rotation. As I remember graduation night was the Thursday before Labor Day. I had to make up a day because I had taken a day off in my second year to attend my grandfather’s funeral. I worked Friday night 11 to 7 and left for Madison as I was going to attend UW. Classes began the day after the holiday. I took 17 credits and worked part time, usually 3-11, 2 days a week at University Hospital, floating all over that huge hospital without a day of orientation. Such was the life of a 3 year grad 60 years ago."

— Joan '60