NCTC celebrates Healthy Self Days

By DELANIA TRIGG, Register Staff Writer

Some North Central Texas College students were playing with Playdough and coloring with markers outside the student services center Wednesday.

The activity table was a popular spot during the college’s Healthy Self Days.

This is the third year for the series which is held on the Gainesville, Corinth and Bowie campuses, according to Tracey Flenikin, coordinator of the college’s Student Success Center.

Ten agencies participated in event which was held to promote student health both mentally and physically.

Flenikin said some of NCTC’s health sciences and cosmetology students participated.

Students were on hand to give skin care consultations and test students’ blood pressure.

Ann Blankenship, director of the college’s RN program said projects such as Wednesday’s Healthy Self Day also help promote the NCTC’s popular nursing programs.

“We have an excellent RN program. Our students are hired in hospitals here and all over the Metroplex. We are helping meet the need for nurses,” she said.

Blakenship also pointed out that nurses have plenty of choices for employment after graduation.

“Good nurses are required for more than just hospital jobs. There are opportunities for nurses to work in home health care, nursing homes, clinics and other places,” she said.

Nursing student Shawn Hill of McKinney said he already works as a paramedic.

Becoming a nurse was a natural progression, he said.

“I have worked (in the healthcare field) for a long time, but I can’t progress from here to higher goals without addition education. This program is a great start for that,” he said.

He also said he turned down an opportunity to get RN training closer to home so he could enroll in NCTC’s nursing program.

“It has such a good reputation,” he said.

Blankenship pointed out that NCTC students often drive great distances to participate in the program.

The college wasn’t the only agency with a health-related message.

Representatives from the Texas Department of State Health Services were at the event to provide immunizations and flu vaccines.

No, it’s not too late to get a flu shot, Flenikin said.

There was even a massage chair available for students who wanted to relax.

Like the Playdough and coloring station, many of the organizations were designed to help students unwind.

Others, such as the representative from Cumberland Presbyterian Children’s Home were on campus to promote programs.

Anna Stokes, single parent family coordinator at Cumberland, said she hoped to promote the organization’s single parent family services.

The single family program includes parenting classes, counseling and housing services.

Qualified single parents with up to four children can live in Cumberland housing in Denton County.

“We have capacity for eight families...This is the only program like this around,” Stokes said.

She said the organization utilizes income guidelines developed by Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to determine eligibility for the housing.

Potential occupants are must also agree to drug and background testing.

Requirements are stringent — even a recent misdemeanor offense can disqualify an applicant.

But Stokes said the standards make life safer and happier for the families who live in Cumberland housing.

Stokes also lives there.

“I think it’s an awesome place,” she said. “The duplexes are just beautiful and include washers and dryers. Everyone lives in a close-knit community and the children play together,” she said.

Cumberland success stories stories arenít just about single mothers.

Stokes said her clients have included a single grandfather raising his 7-year-old granddaughter.

“He had to learn how to be a parent all over again, and he did a great job,” she said.

Also on hand was Maggie Sykes, founder of Cooke County’s Project Turning Point mentoring program.

Sykes said she’s excited about a new program designed to encourage men to take on the mentoring challenge.

“The new program is called Man Up and it’s to help motivate men to become mentors,” she said. “The concept comes from the fact that there are a lot of boys in Cooke County being raised by single mothers. We are trying to fill that need with positive male role models.”

Sykes said the project has been successful. “There are always more (prospective students) than there are mentors,” she said.

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