.
 |
Overview
of Tradition
The
time is near! You are finishing Nursing School.
The culmination of all your hard work is expressed in
the Pinning Ceremony. The Pinning Ceremony is a time-honored
nursing school tradition, dating back before the turn
of the twentieth century. Traditionally, nursing
students have conducted an Honors or Pinning Ceremony
to mark the passage of student nurse role to the practice
role. It is an emotional event that you will want to share
with your family and friends.
In
the traditional ceremony, sophomore students receive
their nursing pins after meeting the necessary program
requirements for completion of the nursing program.
The solemn ceremony includes these components:
- Tradition
is wearing the white nursing uniform.
- Graduates
march in. The graduates are led in by selected
faculty members usually to the strains of appropriate
"marching" music.
- Welcoming
speeches and speeches by select individuals, graduates
are woven into the program.
- Pinning:
Each member of the class selects a special registered
nurse to place the pin on his or her uniform (Pinning).
A faculty member reads the card of thanks the graduate
has prepared.
- Candlelighting:
After lighting Nightingale lamps (or candles), the
class recites the Nurse's Pledge that serves as a
professional mission statement reflecting the deep-seated
vision and values of nursing (Candle lighting).
- Graduates
march off the stage and out of the auditorium.
|
|
Facilitating
the Process
It
is recommended that the fourth level students start the
planning process early in the semester or even as early
as the third semester and not wait until the last class
to start planning. |
|
Organization
Members
of the “graduating class” commence planning around the
third semester. Interested students meet, and, through
the democratic process, select committees to assist in
planning the ceremony.
However,
the Department of Nursing Education has the following
guidelines in place to assist the class in producing
a successful Pinning Ceremony.
- Designated
faculty, either those asked by the senior class or
those interested in volunteering (at least a minimum
of 2-3 per semester) will be responsible for overseeing
the planning and implementation of the ceremony.
Senior class representatives will be given a list
and will contact/meet with faculty at the beginning
of each flex or semester.
- Senior
class representatives and faculty will meet to discuss
proper protocol, room arrangements/reservations, speakers,
ordering of pins, appropriate uniform, invitations,
invited guests, optional photos, music, candle lighting,
and speeches, etc. The group will determine
when, where, and number of times to meet.
- Students
will need to obtain final approval of plans and speeches
from selected faculty advisor.
- The
students will have the opportunity to choose their
own speaker and designate the person who will be doing
the pinning. It is recommended that nursing
faculty actually do the pinning as a rite of passage
to the nursing profession.
|
|
Pinning
Most
students order and purchase the SAC pin. However,
some students choose to be pinned with a family member
or nursing friend's nursing pin.
- The
pin should be opened before the pinner approaches
the nursing graduate.
- If
it difficult to close the pin, then the graduate should
leave it in place and close the clasp once off the
pinning stage.
|
|
Candle lighting:
- Someone
in the students' planning committee purchases the
candles, usually white, to be used during the Candle
Lighting ceremony.
- These
are usually laid out on a table at the exit entrance
to the stage. After each student is pinned and
exits the stage, he/she will pick up a candle and
go to the position behind the curtain.
- The
student committee should prepare some receptable to
act as a bowl to catch any hot wax drippings to prevent
burns. A 5-6" square of aluminum foil to be
bunched around the bottom of the candle and the corners
petaled will collect any drippings and from the audience
view, looks like a candle holder.
- Selected
faculty members will light their candles and then
will walk to the end of the rows to light the candle
of the student on the end.
- The
student with the unlit candle will tip
it to the lighted candle and the process will continue
down the line until all candles are lit.
- At
the end of the Nurses' Prayer and a suitable delay
for family members to take photos, the students will
then blow out their candles and prepare for the march
off the stage. (While it would look really nice
to march out with the lit candles, the fire marshall
does not permit that.)
|
|
Links
related to
Nursing History
|
. |
