Friends_Fall 2010.pdf - Northeast Wisconsin Technical College

Choosing a
new path
Five male manufacturing workers retrain
for nursing careers
Five men are starting the second year of the Associate
Degree Nursing program after previous careers in
manufacturing. The five were among hundreds of
Niagara-area residents who lost their jobs when the
New Page mill closed.
“We knew it was coming—just not so soon,” recalls
Robert Pugh, 49. He had spent 18 years at the mill
doing “a little bit of everything,” most recently working
in the boiler room. When they were offered the
opportunity to go back to college for two years, Pugh
and a handful of coworkers chose to switch industries.
Some of their peers were surprised.
“They told me I was nuts.”
Very surprised.
But in high school, Pugh had worked at his
grandmother’s nursing home and enjoyed helping
people. With the opportunity for a new career, he says,
“I wanted to do something where I could give back a
little bit.”
Instructor Rhonda McClain says the group is “one of
the best clinical groups I’ve ever had. They’re mature,
they’re motivated, and they seem to have an aptitude
for health care.”
She says their enthusiasm and commitment has helped
them excel in their classes, and their people skills
helped them “change their mindset” from factory to
nursing.
NWTC Friends • FALL 2010 ~ Page 10