Georgia Gwinnett made history again this year with the graduation of its first 23 nursing students at its spring commencement ceremony.

The college’s long-awaited nursing program will help fill the Gwinnett area’s critical need for nurses at the bachelor’s degree level.

The GGC nursing program is highly selective. Only up to 32 students are accepted into the program each fall and spring semester. Applicants must have completed their first two years of college and have an excellent academic record.

The program itself is changing the game in nursing education.

“Ours is Georgia’s first program designed to be concept-based from its beginning, and only one of two in the state,” said Dr. Lois C. Richardson, interim senior vice president of Academic and Student Affairs and provost. “Combined with the program’s selectivity, this approach will instill a high level of prestige and credibility in a GGC nursing degree.”