Our May class just graduated from their 75 hour Home Care Aide Basic Training course in our agency’s training classroom, and the trainees are “eager” to take the State’s Home Care Aide Certification exam as their next step. As their instructor, I was pleased with each student-employees’ thoroughness and attention to detail in demonstrating the numerous steps of the many caregiving tasks, and their ability to absorb the large amount of online self-study material that is part of the course. Our students are a pretty diverse group and this one was no exception. We had both male and female students, aged 19 to “it’s not important”, coming from a wide range of backgrounds. A fair amount of stage fright was evident on day one, but even the shy students acted out their care provider and care recipient roles confidently as graduation drew closer. For some the training was all new and eye-opening, and for others the required curriculum was a great refresher. Also, the potluck today was great! Cajun chicken, spicy rice, and yummy “healthy” brownies were just some of the offerings. Thanks everyone for your tasty contributions. All my former students are welcome to ask for continuing assistance as their individual test dates approach. We want everyone to succeed!