SANFORD - Dreams came true - after a lot of hard work - as medical program students received their certificates from Central Carolina Community College May 27.

About 90 graduating students of the college’s Lee County Continuing Education Department’s medical programs gathered for their graduation exercises at the Dennis A. Wicker Civic Center. They ranged in age from teenagers to 85-year-old David Allan, of Carolina Trace.

Allan earned his Pharmacy Technician Certificate and plans to make use of it during his volunteer work at the Helping Hand Clinic in Sanford.

“I think I can do a lot of good with this certificate for the people who use the clinic,” he said.

Allan served with Merrill’s Marauders in the Pacific during World War II. He graduated from Ithaca College in New York in 1949. He never attended that graduation, so this was a first for him. As for going back to school at 85, the veteran said, “Continuing education is possible. The instructors I had deserve a lot of credit.”

Jennifer Goins, of Harnett County, received her Pharmacy Technician Certificate before she gets her high school diploma. Goins graduates from Western Harnett High School on June 13, so she’s been attending high school and college during the spring.

“I wanted to see what pharmacy was like,” she said. “I’m going to continue at Central Carolina in the fall to earn my associate degree and then transfer to a four-year school.”

Family and friends applauded and cheered the graduating students as they crossed the stage to receive their certificates from college President Bud Marchant.

“Graduations are always my favorite time of year,” he said. “Tonight is the culmination of these students’ hopes and dreams. There’s a lot of magic in the room tonight.”

About 160 students from the college’s service area of Chatham, Harnett and Lee counties, as well as Moore, Randolph, and Sampson counties, earned certificates in EKG, Advanced EKG, EKG Monitor Technician, Health Activity Director, Medical Records Management, Medical Terminology, Pharmacy Technician, Optometric Assistant, Phlebotomy, Nursing Assistant I, or Nursing Assistant II. Some earned more than one.

Angela Rivera, the college’s interim Lee County director of Continuing Education, gave the graduation address at the event. She spoke of the importance of the work they will be doing.

“Where our joy is, that is where our work should be,” she said. “Work in the health care industry will bring you immediate satisfaction. You graduates will make this world a better place.”

Robin West, of Sanford, was laid off from Performance Fibers in 2008 after 29 years on the job. She enrolled in Continuing Education and received her Nursing Assistant I Certificate at the graduation.

“I took a nursing program years ago after I got my GED, but I didn’t work in that field,” she said. “Now, I’ve come full circle. I don’t know what the Lord has in store for me, but whatever it is, I’m ready.”