Central’s Billy Clark Leads Delta College To Graduate Its 100th Class of Nurses

Delta College of Arts and Technology has just reached a milestone. On January 31, 2019, Delta graduated its 100th class of nurses. A total of 1,600 have completed the program to prepare to be an LPN since Delta launched
its nursing program in 1992.
Everywhere you go in the Baton Rouge area, you’ll find Delta’s nursing graduates in medical clinics, hospitals, nursing homes, urgent care centers, and rehabilitation facilities.
Today, Delta College has graduated more nurses than any other college in Louisiana.
In addition to nursing, Delta also offers training in Allied Health, medical billing and coding, dental assistant, business office administrator, and graphic arts.
The nursing program has had a tremendous impact on the Baton Rouge area and given opportunity and hope to young people who dreamed of going into the health care profession.
The success of Delta College in nursing education and the other courses of study it offers is really a tribute to the Clark family whose vision and hard work made Delta what it is today.
Billy B. Clark grew up in Monroe and became a business education teacher. Later he moved to the Baton Rouge and taught business education at Central High School.
Delta College was founded in 1970, and Billy B. Clark purchased it in 1973. Unfortunately, he soon learned that the debt was twice as high as he thought, and the revenue was half as great. Despite much adversity, he kept the school open and won accreditation in 1974. That same year, he moved the school to its present location at 7290 Exchange Place off Wooddale Boulevard.
Since then, Delta College has grown to seven buildings on Exchange Place with 30,000 square feet. Delta College now includes seven campuses in Louisiana and Florida.
In the early days, Delta College provided business education for that era. This included key punch, PBX phones,
typing, and business machines.
As federal grants and loans became available, more and more students could take advantage of the courses Delta had to offer.
Delta College wanted to offer a nursing program and in 1992 went to the Board of Practical Nurse Examiners to express their intent. There Billy B. Clark was told that LPN programs could only be offered by public schools. The board put up road blocks, but Clark persisted. The Board said Delta would have to have at least three clinical sites. Instead, Delta offered 12.
Finally, the board voted unanimously to approve Delta’s application. More than 200 students applied for Delta’s first nursing class. From a class of 30, 27 graduated, and all 27 passed the LPN exam. It had an impressive start, and the board became supportive of the college.
In 1997, Billy B. Clark retired, and his son, Billy L. Clark became president of Delta College of Arts and Technology.
The LPN program offers full-time during the day over a 16 month period or by evening classes over a 24 month period. In either case, the course consists of 1,700 hours of training.
Delta College graduates hold important positions in the health care industry. Today 27 years after Billy B. Clark began to seek approval to offer LPN training, Delta is a leader in its field.
Billy L. Clark and his wife Linda reside in Central and have eight children, all of whom were home-schooled. They are Amy, who is on a mission trip to Italy; Kay Lynn, a professional photographer; Joy, who graduated from SLU and is a wife and mother; Catherine who works at Judson Baptist Retreat in Jackson; Andrew, who is handicapped; Michael, who is a mechanical engineer; Joshua who is studying finance and who works at the college, and Clara, who is in graphics arts and Christian theatre.
The national chains that compete with Delta College have now moved out of Baton Rouge.
Billy L. Clark feels that excessive regulation is pulling down the weaker colleges. However, Secretary of Education Betsy Devos is a supporter of private proprietary schools like Delta, and Clark feels the future is bright for those who have survived the heavy regulation.
Clark says it won’t be long until the 101st nursing class graduates from Delta College!

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