Northern Virginia Community College’s Nursing program dates back to 1966. Jane McLaughlin, who would later marry and become Jane Martin, was in the College’s inaugural Nursing class and graduated cum laude with an Associate of Applied Science in nursing on June 15, 1968.
The Nursing program was initially housed in a single building in Bailey’s Crossroads, but would later move to the Annandale Campus.
That single building in Bailey’s Crossroads was where the College was located when it first opened in 1965. In 1966, the name was changed from Northern Virginia Technical College to Northern Virginia Community College. The first building opened on NOVA’s Annandale Campus in 1967.
Not only was Jane Martin a member of NOVA’s inaugural nursing class, she also holds the distinction of being the first student accepted into the program. After more than 50 years, she returns to NOVA’s Medical Education Campus (MEC) to help celebrate its 20th anniversary!
In Jane's words, "It's truly remarkable how NOVA began in a single building in Bailey’s Crossroads, grew to include a brand-new academic facility in Annandale, and now, more than 50 years later, has the dedicated Medical Education Campus we see today!"
Jane is among numerous students who have found fulfilling careers in healthcare through the College’s Nursing program, which is now nearly 60 years old.
Jane’s impressive career, which has spanned more than 50 years, has led her to various healthcare roles, including at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the prestigious Lombardi Cancer Center at Georgetown University. She attempted to retire but spent another decade of service in hospice homecare, a challenging but deeply meaningful job she cherished.
Tell us about your experience in the Nursing program.
What meant the most to me was our nursing professors, who were totally invested in getting us to state boards — not to mention passing them — and getting this brand-new program off the ground!
As I recall, there were about 50 students starting out. That was winnowed down to 27, but only 25 are listed in the graduation program.
Tell us a little bit about yourself.
After graduating, I started my career in the medical-surgical unit at a hospital in Fairfax. It was Commonwealth Doctors Hospital, which no longer exists.
In 1969, I got married and moved to Williamsburg with my husband. I briefly worked in a newborn nursery until my husband’s graduation from William & Mary. Then we moved back to Falls Church, and I returned to Commonwealth Doctors.
My husband’s Air Force service took us to Mississippi and then to North Carolina, where I had a great job in the ICU. After his military service ended, we returned again to Falls Church; that’s when my career seemed to take off. I worked at the NIH Clinical Center for four years in a solid tumor/dermatology unit and fell in love with oncology and my co-workers.
Following NIH, I spent 18 years in a hematology-oncology practice serving our patients' various and complex needs. I then spent five years as a case manager at the Lombardi Cancer Center at Georgetown University Hospital. That’s when I retired — or so I thought. I worked another 10 years for Capital Hospice, providing homecare, and I loved it! Then, finally, I retired for real!
What brought you to NOVA?
I graduated from Falls Church High School in 1965 and attended UVA’s diploma nursing program. I hated it — I was a spoiled only child who had never been away from home, and the diploma students basically helped staff the hospital. I quit after the first quarter and came home, much to my mother’s dismay!
My high school guidance counselor, Mr. Julian Whitmer, had moved on to NVCC (it wasn’t called NOVA yet), and I went to see him there to confess. I still wanted to pursue nursing, but I really had no other idea of how to accomplish that. He took me to meet Marilyn Boyd, the new head of the Nursing program at NVCC.
Marilyn and I talked, and she took a chance on me and then congratulated me on being the first student in the program. I often wonder how different my life would have been if Mr. Whitmer hadn’t changed jobs!
The two-year program, with no summer break, led to an A.A.S. in nursing degree. I recall that only two of our classmates were new high school graduates. Several others, like me, had gone into other programs and left, and many others were LPNs with full-time jobs and families. Those women and our one guy were amazing!
What professors and classmates from NOVA do you still stay in touch with?
I am still friends with one classmate, but sadly, there's never been a reunion or gathering of the group. In 2015, I had the chance to meet one of our instructors in Illinois. She was the instructor who calmed a panicky student (who could that have been?) who clutched her arm at the beginning of a psych rotation in a locked ward at St. Elizabeth’s Hospital in D.C. She was pretty terrific then and was just as amazing when I met her 40 years later!
What were your educational goals?
I wanted a job I could take anywhere that was not as a teacher or a secretary!! Remember — this was the '60s!
What would you tell a student coming to NOVA?
Take full advantage of the resource that NOVA is — a road to a career, a steppingstone to a four-year degree, an opportunity to change careers or to try something different without breaking the bank. I have always been a fan of the community college concept and always been proud of it for the opportunities it provides.
What are your final thoughts?
I live only three miles from where I grew up in Falls Church, and the connections that have come about in my work over the past 50-plus years are amazing. My patients taught me how to live my life! Lots of stories and coincidences. It’s been marvelous!
