We are here for our LVN students and encourage them to come to us for questions, concerns, support and council. When students enroll to CDI, they are made a promise– a quality education coupled with an unforgettable experience.
There’s a reason why students love CDI and it’s leadership at the school. Read an interview with Janis K. Newton, the founder and president of CDI. It’s never late to chase down what you want. It all started with a dream.
Interviewer: How did you start this school? How did it all begin?
Janis: “So the way I started this school was I was a special education teacher. And I just…I wanted to do something more. And I wanted to help the community. And I’ve always been interested in science. In college, I have a Bachelor’s of Science in Health Science and a minor in biology. And I thought, “I just want to put this all together.” I started working for the Red Cross. And I started being a proctor for their CNA program. I thought, “You know, this is very cool, and, I think I can do this.” And so I started a CNA program. And that’s how really it all started. And we did CNA, we did home health aide, we did restorative nurse aid for like 15 years. And in 2005, we started to put in LVN. And I just wanted to help people. I’ve always been in the kind of mode of service mode. And it all just came together and here we are 18 years later.”
Interviewer: What is your favorite part about running the school and helping out the students.
Janis: “I guess, a lot of our students have multiple barriers. Either financially or their support system isn’t very good. Some of them are from the foster system. When we take a student with these barriers and put them in the LVN program and they can become successful. I mean, then we’re successful. I’ve always figured we’re…we just help the community. We’re just part of the community.”
Interviewer: Where do you see the future of CDI? Where do you see it going?
Janis: “Well, I mean it would always be nice to grow. We’re a very small, smaller school. It would be nice to do a bridge program from LVN to RN. But that’s probably something in the future that we could do. But other than that, I want to do what we’re doing. We’re doing it right. We have one of the highest pass rates in southern California. And I think that we’re on the right track.”
Interviewer: Why do you have such a great pass rate at the school?
Janis: “We have one of the highest pass rates in southern California. We’ve had 100% pass rate for five years in a row. How do we do that? We do it because we start with really good instructors. And we’re very particular on who we hire here. And I think that all the staff, we just come together with our students. When they have a problem, we’re always there. Whether it’s a personal problem, whether it’s an academic problem. We have tutoring, free tutoring, here every day. Really, it sounds a little bit like a cliché, but their success is our success. And we just wanna do a good job. We want them to be the best nurses they can be. And I think that our pass rate shows that.”
Interviewer: Fantastic. Thank you. Any last words?
Janis: “If you have any doubts, I think you should come down. You should look at our school. And, even though we’re a smaller school, we have exactly what a much larger school would have. We’re just on a little bit smaller scale. And I think it’s good. We don’t have as many students in each class, which makes it very, very good for our students so that they get individual attention all the time. But, come down, take a tour of our school. I think it’s very important that you feel comfortable at a school. And I think…we would love to have you come here, and see us, and talk to us. And, we look forward to partnering with you and being part of your future and helping you along your journey. And this is what we do. And this is what we really…this is our whole being of being here. We want to help you.”
