Lakeview College of Nursing has been preparing nurses for the field for 130 years, which is something worth celebrating.
First opened in November 1894 as The Danville Training School (DTS), Lakeview was a hospital-based school back then. Only four students completed their program of study in the college’s first graduating class of 1896.
50 years later, that number had doubled.
Betty Barkman, a graduate from the class of 1949, was one of eight students to graduate that year: all single and female.
“It was right after the war, World War II. And if you became a student, you couldn’t be married. So we didn’t have a lot,” Barkman said. “In fact we may have started with more, but then some dropped out to get married when their sweethearts came home.”
Due to traditional views of nursing, married women, men, and Black students weren’t allowed to enroll in Lakeview’s nursing program until the 1960s.
Many other things have also changed at Lakeview over the years, according to Barkman.
“Back then we used to give back rubs!” she said. “Now they have CNAs for all that.”
Until September 1987, students who completed a program at Lakeview were issued diplomas, not degrees, as the college was not able to offer a baccalaureate nursing program accredited by the State of Illinois’ Department of Registration and Education until then.
The college continued to adapt and and expand their offerings and their campuses in Danville and Charleston. By 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic swept the world, Lakeview quickly adapted to the times by transitioning all courses to online learning for the spring and summer semesters of 2020.
“Our history is marked by great traditions, institutional changes, strategic partnerships, and thousands of student nurses who have entered the profession committed to making a difference in the Danville Area, throughout the State of Illinois and the entire United States, as well as the world at large,” said Lakeview President, Sheila Mingee.
Today, Lakeview works hard to remain at the “forefront to the trends in health care” and is committed to “preparing safe, competent, patient-centered, caring professional nurses for leadership, service, and practice for the advancement of the nursing profession.”
“Current graduates carry forward the spirit of our first nurse graduates. They embody a commitment to service, continuous learning, and meaningful patient care,” Mingee said.