Panama City - As the demand for nurses keeps rising, more students than ever will graduate from Gulf Coast State College with a practical nursing degree. 31 students will graduate Thursday at Gulf Coast's Gulf/Franklin Campus in Port St. Joe.

Normally the program graduates 24-27 students. The program's assistant coordinator says it's simply because it was a more dedicated, harder working class than she's used to seeing. The course the students just completed was a year long and met every single day. Eight of the students in the class had perfect attendance, and some of them traveled from Panama City and Eastpoint to Port St. Joe everyday. And with the demand for nurses so high right now, most of the graduating class is graduating with a job already lined up or with plans to further their education by getting their RN from another course at Gulf Coast State College next year.