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Monday, August 27, 2007
9 grads in Cebu top nursing test
CEBU CITY -- Nine students from five schools in Cebu City are in the top 10 list of examinees who took the nursing board exams last June. For at least one of them, it was a happy surprise after the ordeal of being ordered to take the exams again.
Of the nine, three are from Velez College, two each from Southwestern University (SWU) and University of Cebu (UC), and one each from the Cebu Normal University (CNU) and the Cebu City Medical Center (CCMC) College of Nursing.
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An ecstatic Jennielyn Nuez told Sun.Star Cebu in a phone interview Sunday night that she didn’t expect to become a topnotcher, considering that she chose to review on her own.
Nuez was among the 336 re-takers who chose to take the entire test again, instead of just tests 3 and 5, after controversy marred the outcome of the 2006 nursing board exams which she earlier took. She placed ninth this year.
“Wow! Hala ka-amazing! Nganong ako man? Oh my God! Di ko ka-believe,” a shrieking Nuez said, adding that she really didn’t expect to be in the top 10 because this year’s exam was more difficult than the last.
Instead of just retaking two test items, Nuez said she decided to take the entire test instead, fearing her chances of landing a job might be jeopardized if potential employers would find out she was among those who took the 2006 exams.
UC’s Jundell Castardo landed fifth with an average of 86.8 percent. April Candy Kong of CNU and Santonin Yu of UC placed eighth, with an average of 86.2 percent.
At ninth spot are CCMC’s Michael Louise Cervantes, Jewey Ann Torrefranca of SWU, and Velez’s Brian Martin Tan and Jennielyn Nuez. They all scored an average of 86 percent.
Velez’s Gilbert Endriga and SWU’s Cyrus Man Paalisbo are at the 10th place, with 85.8 percent.
The nine are among the 61 examinees who landed in the top 10. Of the 64,909 who took the exams, only 31,275 passed; 248 of the 336 re-takers also passed.
Velez College of Nursing dean Liliosa Lumbab attributes the success of their three graduates their “individual capacities and the guidance” of the school, apart from the training program provided by the school’s own hospital.
But she said this is not the first time the college, which has been offering nursing since 1955, produced three topnotchers in a year.
“(I always tell the examinees) Trust your stock knowledge and your experiences in the clinical area since we know these are the core competencies that are in the test framework of the board exams,” she said.
She said that aside from a cash reward, jobs at Cebu Velez General Hospital are waiting for the three.
However, she admitted that she expects the passers, especially the topnotchers and the re-takers, to leave the country for jobs abroad.
For UC’s Castardo and Yu, university president Augusto Go, who was in Hong Kong when he heard the news last night, promised them P100,000 each, said UC-Banilad College of Nursing dean Helen Estrella.
“The president had promised a car for first place. But this is more than what have expected,” she told Sun.Star Cebu.
Estrella said they had high hopes Castardo and Yu would make it to the top 10. She said the two have been excelling in both curricular and extra-curricular activities.
UC’s administration also gave honors to UC-Lapu Lapu Mandaue (LM) College of Nursing dean Ramelita Romano, who passed away last July 15.
“This is really her dream—to produce placers,” Estrella said of Romano, who served UC-Main since 1988 and handled UC-LM’s college of nursing when it opened four years ago.
“She must be rejoicing in heaven,” said UC’s vice chancellor for academic affairs Dr. Erlinda Barcelo.
Barcelo also congratulated the dean and the college’s teachers for the results.
Estrella said the UC administration has taken extra measures to ensure its students are well-prepared for the board exam.
For one whole year, students were required to review in UC. Thirty days before the exam date, they were made to undergo a “closely guarded review scheme.”
This meant that students were made to stay in two seminaries within the city where further review sessions were held. Estrella said this was done to ensure that their students wouldn’t be distracted from their review.
Board passers will have their oath-taking on October 2 at the Araneta Coliseum.
Those who failed may take again the exam this December and must submit their application forms from September 17 to 28. (RCT/CYR of Sun.Star Cebu)
For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Pampanga. (August 27, 2007 issue)
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