MIDLAND, Texas — Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center celebrated their Physicians Assistant's Program with some special guests receiving a special honor.
Their program has been in Midland for years and on Tuesday night they honored Nadine Craddick and Tom Craddick, former railroad commissioner turned state representative, by naming the program in their honor.
The program started with 45 seats back in 1997 and soon it will be 120.
Right now, Midland is the only one in the country to have a lab.
Nadine Craddick hopes to have young students become successful and grow within the community, as health professionals are needed in the Permian Basin because of the constant population boom.
"We have a growing need for healthcare. So we're excited that the program is growing too, to meet the needs of the area," Nadine Craddick said. "It's just wonderful to see that something like this that you start 20 years ago come to fruition, or over 30 years ago come to fruition and be successful and it's growing. To just meet the students today, they're excited."
Nadine Craddick went on to say that, "we hope that our passion was we grow them here in our own community and maybe then they stay here."
As of Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2,000 people have applied for the 70 seats that are available in the program.