Bowie State nursing graduates earn first-ever 100% NCLEX pass rate
All 14 Bowie State nursing graduates passed the NCLEX on the first try, a first for the program. Prince George’s County now has a new test of whether local health systems can keep them.
All 14 members of Bowie State University’s December 2025 Bachelor of Science in Nursing class passed the NCLEX-RN on their first attempt, giving the historically Black university its first 100% pass rate and adding a new source of nursing talent in Prince George’s County.
The result places its nursing program among Maryland’s top performers and strengthens a pipeline meant to ease critical staffing shortages across Washington, D.C., Maryland and Virginia.
Dr. Monique Alston, chair of the Department of Nursing and an associate professor, said the result reflects the rigor of the program and the faculty’s commitment to student success. Graduates leave with the knowledge, clinical experience and confidence needed to work as professional nurses, supported by a state-of-the-art simulation laboratory and community-based clinical placements built over almost 30 years of training nurses.
One of those graduates, Joshua Desvignes ’25, is now a nurse at The Johns Hopkins Hospital. He said Bowie State’s hands-on clinical experiences and faculty support prepared students for the NCLEX.
Bowie State’s Spring 2026 graduating class included 21 students, all of whom had already accepted nursing positions before commencement and were preparing for the licensure exam. The Nursing Department honored 21 undergraduates and three graduate students at a pinning and medallion ceremony on May 20 at the Dionne Warwick Theater in the Fine & Performing Arts Center.
Six faculty and staff members received Dr. Peg E. Daw Nurse Faculty Annual Recognition Awards from the Maryland Higher Education Commission, with each award sending $10,000 to the institution for professional development. Alston received a separate $5,000 Nurse Support II Academic Nurse Educator Certification award from the State of Maryland Nurse Support Program.
Official Maryland Board of Nursing licensure data for fiscal year 2026 is due in September.
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