Emmani Williams, center, is shown with Nursing & Allied Health Center instructors including, from left, Audrey Murray, Mel Pinter, Andrea Edwards, Whitney Nesbit, Elola Maberry and Wendy Lingle.
RAYMOND – Emmani Williams points to her mother as inspiration for entering the Associate Degree Nursing program at Hinds Community College. As the 33rd recipient of the Carla McCulloch Nursing Scholarship, she now has someone else to inspire her.
Williams, 20, of Byram said she was proud to follow in the footsteps of students like Carla and of her mother who is a Licensed Practical Nurse working in a nursing rehabilitation center.
“I was encouraged by my mom to become a nurse because she’s a nurse. She influenced me a lot when I was little,” Williams said. “I plan to become a pediatric nurse. I love kids and like working with kids.”
Since 1991, the Carla McCulloch Scholarship has been given to a second semester Associate Degree Nursing student. It was created by her parents, Larry and Carol McCulloch, formerly of Magee but now residents of Roanoke, Va. Carla graduated high school from Simpson Academy and was a Hinds nursing student at the time of her death in an April 1991 accident.
“We knew our daughter was a good fit for being a nurse because she was a very compassionate person and very funny. She loved to laugh and she loved people,” Carol McCulloch said.
Dene Bass Cook, retired nursing clinical instructor, said Carla encouraged classmates when they were thinking of quitting nursing school.
“She’d have her arm around that student and she would look them straight in the eye and she would say, ‘No. You are not going to quit, don’t let her intimidate you,’” Cook laughed. She said Carla turned out to be one of the top performing students in her class. “She was the kind of nurse I’d want taking care of me.”
Andrea Edwards, Director of the Associate Degree Nursing Program, said Williams is the same kind of student as Carla McCulloch.
“Much like Carla, (Williams) is highly motivated, enthusiastic and caring. Her leadership skills are exemplary, and she’s always prepared for class and lab, always punctual,” she said.
To learn more about the nursing program available at Hinds visit the website at www.hindscc.edu/pathways/health-sciences/practical-nursing.