Rank high in national scores (circa 1976)

In preparing students in the field of Cytology a laboratory science that involves microscopic examination of body cells to facilitate early diagnosis of cancer, St. Joseph's Hospital's School of Cytotechnology has long had a distinguished record. Its graduates have routinely done well in national certification exams conducted by the American Society of Clinical Pathologists.
But the class that graduated in June 1976 has, perhaps, achieved the school's best record yet:
-All five memebers of the class passed, with good scores, while nationally only 69 percent of the cytotechnology students who took the exams passed them.
-St. Joseph's graduates, as a group, recorded the second best school average grade in the United States.
-One of the graduates, Mrs. Alice Desmarais of North Kingstown, achieved the highest score nationally in the written phase of the exam, and placed third in the practical exam - in the top two percent nationally.
Two others, Lois McTernan and Mrs. Sandra Pickett, recorded the fifth and seventh highest scores nationally in the written exam, ranking in the top two and five percent, respectively.
Mrs. Pickett is now a member of the hospital's Cytology staff, at the Our Lady of Fatima Unit in North Providence.
The significance of their accomplishments is even more notable in view of the fact they were competing with students from many schools with far greater resources, in terms of faculty size and facilities, throughout the country.
Mrs Naoma Corvese of Smithfield is Educational Coordinator and Teaching Supervisor of the school, as well as serving as supervisor of the hospital's Cytology Lab. Director of the school is Dr. Salvatore Allegra, director of St. Joseph's Department of Pathology.