OLOL College celebrates 85 years

• By JORDAN BLUM
• Advocate Capitol News Bureau
• Published: Nov 7, 2009 - Page: 1B

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Arlene Folmar graduated from Our Lady of the Lake School of Nursing in 1956 with a class of about 25 students.

Folmar eventually helped develop the region’s first coronary care unit and relocated with the Catholic hospital and school from downtown to Essen Lane.

She also watched as her tiny diploma school evolved into Our Lady of the Lake College that now enrolls nearly 2,000 students and offers master’s degrees as the only nonprofit private college in the area.

“I’m frankly amazed at what they’ve done with the college, and I’m impressed with the size of it,” Folmar said. “I really didn’t think they could grow a diploma program that much.”

Folmar is one of 85 OLOL alumni being honored today at a “Celebrating 85 Who Have Made a Difference” event during the last week of the college’s 85th anniversary year.

OLOL College President Sandra Harper said future plans involve developing a better physical campus identity with a student center and more. The college also should grow to 3,000 students within 10 to 15 years, she said.

Harper said she is tasked with establishing a stronger presence for the college and moving it out of the shadows of LSU and Southern University. OLOL College is much more than a nursing school, she said.

“What I say is we’re health-care focused, but not health-care exclusive,” Harper said.

“If Baton Rouge is really moving forward as the next great Southern city, most great cities have strong private colleges,” she said.

Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center CEO Scott Wester said the college is a “hidden gem” that is no longer going to hide.

“It’s imperative to have the identity of a college campus,” Wester said, explaining that in about five years he wants people to drive by the Essen and Perkins Road area and recognize what looks like a full college campus.

But Wester said the college’s growth from its humble beginnings already are “phenomenal.”

The OLOL School of Nursing opened in 1923 near the State Capitol in downtown Baton Rouge with nine students. The hospital-based program issued the diplomas necessary to become a nurse. Such programs were common for nursing education.