Each semester, more than 200 people apply for 106 spots in Seminole State College’s nursing program, but the school has been hard-pressed to accommodate additional students. It simply doesn’t have enough physical space.

That will soon change. With $4.7 million in funding from the Florida Legislature, the Central Florida school has embarked on a campus expansion that will include a workforce building and a remodel of an existing building. Seminole State President Georgia Lorenz says the projects will allow the school to double its nursing and workforce programs and create additional space for student services.

The college also is partnering with local hospitals — including Orlando Health and AdventHealth — to provide focused training for students through dedicated education units, or DEUs. In the units, students are paired with experienced nurses to learn advanced skills that complement classroom and simulation training so they can quickly transition into the workplace when they graduate.

Kelly Andrews, an RN at AdventHealth Winter Park who graduated from Seminole State College, said the DEU program gave her a “sense of belonging” on the floor where she now works. “Being paired up with a nurse, I was able to do a lot more patient care, kind of see how the medications worked a lot better,” Andrews explained in an AdventHealth video. “You get so much hands-on experience.”