University of the Virgin Islands Breaks Ground on New Nursing School Facility at St. Croix Campus

Triumph and jubilation were the themes of the day at Monday's groundbreaking ceremony for a new nursing school at the University of the Virgin Islands' St. Croix campus.

Surrounded by pleased officials of the executive and legislative branch, UVI faculty and staff, led by President Dr. David Hall, celebrated the momentous achievement for the future of nursing in the territory. "Behind you, in months to come, will come out of the earth a facility that will train not only our existing nurses, but will train nurses into the future," Mr. Hall told the ceremony's guests.

He explained that federal legislation signed by the previous administration, which eased the debt burdens of historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) across the country, helped create significant financial space for UVI. Instead of clawing some of that financing back like other states, Mr. Hall explained that the Legislature and executive branch in the Virgin Islands agreed that the university could instead invest in strengthening the institution. One such project Mr. Hall said he promised Governor Bryan was a new school of nursing facility.

"If the advocacy on the federal level didn't occur, and the support on the local level didn't occur, this day would not be here," Mr. Hall remarked, highlighting the power of cooperation between different levels and branches of government, as well as non-governmental institutions.

The nursing school, the UVI president noted, is being built next to the university's cutting edge medical simulation center so that nursing students will also be able to take full advantage of the technology contained within. "We want in the future for our medical students and our nursing students to be trained together,"he said, explaining that "the future of healthcare is one of teams working together to provide the best care for human beings possible."