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Courtesy photo In an emotional moment, Paula Church (center) hugs her mother, Adonna, and daughter, Ava, after they present Church with her nursing pin.

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published: Wednesday, June 20, 2012

34 SFCC nursing students get their pins

Special to the News-Sun

AVON PARK - Thirty-four graduates of South Florida Community College's Associate Degree Nursing (ADN) program were honored in a traditional pinning ceremony Thursday evening in the SFCC Theatre for the Performing Arts, Highlands Campus.

Keynote speaker Yvonne Hunt, adjunct nursing instructor at SFCC and interim director of quality at DeSoto Memorial Hospital, emphasized that in nursing every patient deserves compassionate care. She told the story of a former patient who had been under her care for three years. After Hunt moved to Florida, she discovered that he had written a book about his life with cancer. One chapter was about Hunt and how she had given him confidence and hope.

"Your goal is to focus on giving your patients that extraordinary care and attention," Hunt said to the graduates. "Create confidence and hope in your patients. Make a promise for success. Strive to be a chapter in your patient's book, not just a footnote."

During the ceremony, graduates accepted their nursing pins from a person of their choice, in most cases a relative or friend who they credited with being supportive throughout their lives.

"The highlight of completing a program of study in nursing is receiving the nursing pin," said Dr. Michele Heston, director of SFCC's nursing program. "It is a symbol of service, service that includes many professional rights and responsibilities. I can assure you that the students who receive their pins tonight are prepared to serve. Welcome to nursing!"

The practice of pinning new graduates has been a nursing school tradition in the United States since 1916. The pin is worn prominently on a nurse's uniform throughout her or his career. One story of the ceremony's beginning goes back to 1883, when Queen Victoria awarded Florence Nightingale the Royal Red Cross on St. George's Day for her service to the sick and injured during the Crimean War. In turn, Nightingale later extended the honor to her outstanding nursing students by presenting them with a medal of excellence.

Graduates of the ADN program become registered nurses by passing the National Council Licensure Examination for Registered Nurses (NCLEX) exam. For the past five years, the percentage of SFCC ADN students that have passed the exam is well above the national average of 86 percent.

SFCC nursing graduates are usually fully employed in nursing within a few months of graduation. Positions that some of SFCC's nursing graduates hold are director of a wound care center, charge nurse at a medical-surgical diabetic center, director of nursing in a 130-bed skilled nursing facility, operating room nurse, charge nurse for a progressive care unit, hospice nurse, school nurse, clinical supervisor in home health care, and emergency room nurse manager.

"Few professions offer as many choices of where to work, areas in which to specialize, or degrees to use as nursing," Heston said. "The possibilities and opportunities for the well-prepared associate degree nurse are endless.

"The majority of our graduates are enrolled in or seeking advanced degrees in nursing and related fields."

SFCC offers Associate Degree Nursing (ADN) options for students interested in becoming registered nurses: a two-year Generic-RN program and a one-year Transition-LPN to RN program. The college also offers a one-year practical nursing occupational certificate program. For program entry requirements, consult the SFCC College Catalog online at www.southflorida.edu. For application deadlines and scheduling, contact the SFCC allied health advisor at 784-7290.

SFCC is accredited by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools to award associate degrees.