Graduates of Associate Degree Nursing program will also receive pins in separate ceremony
BAYTOWN, TX — Lee College will recognize the achievements of more than 630 graduates at the 2017 Spring Commencement Ceremony. Tina Pennington and Mandy Williams, sisters better known as “Red” and “Black” who co-authored a book about personal finance and developed an educational program to promote financial literacy, will be the guest speakers.
Spring Commencement will be held at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m., Saturday, May 13, in the sports arena on campus. The ceremonies will also be streamed live online via the Lee College website at www.lee.edu.
Born in New York, Pennington and Williams — or Red and Black, respectively — wrote the nationally recognized best seller, “What I Learned About Life When My Husband Got Fired!” after Pennington’s husband lost his job. A Theater Arts graduate from Wake Forest University and stay-at-home mom, Pennington quickly realized how little she understood about the family’s personal finances and turned to her sister for help. Williams, who holds an economics degree from Wilkes College, earned an MBA in International Finance from New York University and London Business School and retired from the oil and gas industry at just 40 years old, responded by taking her sister on a frank and candid three-month tour through the real world of money.
Their book features a wealth of practice guidance and advice about managing personal finances to achieve financial health and a richer, more satisfying life – exploring everything from specific issues like balance sheets and credit cards, to long-term financial planning and more fundamental concepts like values, time management and handling stress. Initially launched by Neiman Marcus, the book has since become the basis of the “Personal Finance & Life 101” program the sisters developed and taught at KIPP Houston High School. The book has also been approved by the Texas State Board of Education as a personal financial literacy textbook, and is being introduced at Texas Department of Criminal Justice units as part of a book study program.
Now authors and educators, Red and Black also write columns about personal finance and are frequently invited for speaking engagements and appearances. They delivered the keynote address at the spring convening of the Educate Texas STEM Accelerator in March, and have also spoken this year at the Greater Houston Partnership’s UpSkill Houston Regional Faculty Summit and the Texas Career Education Winter Conference.
2017 Associate Degree Nursing Pinning Ceremony
Spring 2017 graduates of the Associate Degree Nursing (ADN) program at Lee College will be honored and welcomed into their new profession at the annual Pinning Ceremony set for 7 p.m., Friday, May 12, in the Sports Arena.
As part of the ceremony, nursing graduates will receive a special pin signifying their participation in the Lee College ADN program. They will also recite the Florence Nightingale Pledge, an oath named for the founder of modern nursing and taken by all professional nurses. Faculty members will recognize students who have demonstrated high academic achievement and clinical excellence throughout the two-year program, and lead graduates in a sacred lamp-lighting ceremony that symbolizes the passage of knowledge from one generation of nurses to the next.