Seven graduate from surgical program

NEWTON — Sussex County Community College honored seven graduates of the Surgical Technology Program on Friday, July 25 at a graduation luncheon in the Performing Arts Center.

Surgical Technologists provide care to patients in a variety of settings such as hospitals or ambulatory surgical centers and work under the supervision of a surgeon to ensure the operating room is safe, equipment functions properly and the operative procedure is conducted under conditions that maximize patient safety.

Lillian Louglas, Surgical Technology Program Coordinator, distributed certificates to each student with a luncheon that followed.

The graduates are Stephen Calderon, Sarah Squillante, Rachel Ackerman, Ashley Rauch, Franca Biondolillo, Natalie Decker, and Jamie Medeiros-Batty.

The students will take the national certification exam on Friday, Aug. 8. Results from the exam will come out in September.

Three of the students were named to the National Honor Society for the Association of Surgical Technology. They are Stephen Calderon, Franca Biondolillo and Ashley Rauch.

According to the Bureau of Labor and Statistics, employment for surgical technologists is projected to grow 30 percent from 2012 to 2022, faster than the average for all occupations.

The Health Science certificate program offered at SCCC begins each fall and concludes the following summer for a total of 1,280 program hours.