Lt. Governor Evelyn Sanguinetti made her first visit to Joliet Junior College April 6 to tour several programs with JJC President Dr. Judy Mitchell and to meet with students.
 
During her hour-long tour, Sanguinetti met with students involved in several student clubs and support services, including Latinos Unidos, Peer Mentors, Brother 2 Brother, Black Student Union, and Project Achieve Student Support Services.
 
“I’m grateful for your investment in Illinois,” Sanguinetti told students. “The American Dream is still alive. We need leaders, and I’m looking to you.”
 

Sanguinetti also toured the Orthotics and Prosthetics lab and the nursing program’s simulation center, where faculty and nursing students highlighted their curriculum with multiple human patient simulators.
 
These computerized mannequins are designed to exhibit the realistic symptoms of medical issues and emergencies so that nursing students can measure vital signs to determine problems, administer treatments, and analyze the results in the debrief sessions that follow. 
 
JJC’s Orthotics and Prosthetics Technician (OPT) program is one of only five community college OPT programs in the country. The program trains students to develop orthotics (orthopedic braces) and prosthetics (artificial limbs) in a profession that provides a vital service to the rehabilitation medicine community and to individuals with disabilities. JJC OPT student Christina Bunde discussed with Sanguinetti the spinal and lower limb orthotic projects students are working in class, while Alisha Brennon shared an extracurricular project: developing a prosthetic leg for a dog.

“We were thrilled to host Lt. Governor Sanguinetti today and share with her the amazing academic and support resources JJC has to offer its community,” Dr. Mitchell said. “Of course, today we were only able to share a small percentage of those resources, but it was important to share with her that JJC is a vibrant and dynamic institution, delivering unique opportunities and training our students as they create their futures.”

View photos from the lieutenant governor's visit.

For more information contact Kelly Rohder-Tonelli, executive director of Communications and Marketing, at 815-280-2915 or krohder@jjc.edu.