Springfield, IL (CAPITOLCITYNOW) – 13 soon-to-be grads of University of Illinois – Chicago nursing program let off 2 years’ worth of steam by collectively jumping into the pool at Fit Club on S. 6th while fully dressed in their nursing scrubs.

It’s an annual tradition carried over from the Chicago campus and the young people seem to enjoy it as a cathartic rite-of-passage.

Nursing student, Elizabeth Olivan-Martinez, is from the Chicago area but she did her two years of class work in Springfield. She says it was tough but she glad to be moving on to her new career as a nurse at Northwestern. She told WTAX News she didn’t know how to swim but she wasn’t about to miss the ritual with her classmates. (She came out OK)

Payton Sherman also took the deep dive and came up enthused for her future.

She was proud of her scholastic abilities and was taking on Neural ICU – brain work! – as her new career.

Nicholas Doerfler says he chose nursing as a career because when he had ailing family members nurses did a great job of caring for them and he also wants to see men take their place in the field right alongside the ladies.

Dr. Barbary Hovey with University of Illinois Chicago Nursing program says nursing is a challenging profession and the demographics are aging. Right now, the median age for a nurse is 50+ with many planning to retire in 5 years.

She says getting fresh faces into the profession is a big deal and a cause for celebration.

The event was Thursday afternoon.