Columbia College pins new nurses

Columbia College's December Nurses' Pinning Ceremony will be held Dec. 18, 10 a.m., in Launer Auditorium

Thirty-two nursing program graduates will participate in the pinning ceremony at 10 a.m. Dec. 18 in Launer Auditorium on the Columbia College main campus. All graduates will be conferred associate degrees.

The ceremony is a symbolic welcoming of the program’s graduates into the nursing profession and the pin is a reminder of their mission to serve those in poor health.
This is one of the oldest professional ceremonies in the Western world, with roots dating back to the Middle Ages; Florence Nightingale, the founder of modern-day nursing, re-introduced pinning in the 1860s to honor exceptional nursing students.

Dr. Gerald T. Brouder, president of Columbia College, will fittingly provide remarks. Brouder holds four degrees in nursing. Dr. Joyce Gentry, assistant professor of nursing, will elaborate on the history of the pin and Dr. Terry Smith, executive vice president and dean for Academic Affairs, and Faye Fairchild and Kay Dingler, instructors of nursing, will then pin the graduates.

Each graduate will then light a candle from one central candle as a reminder to let their compassion illuminate the world.

Linda Claycomb, director of the nursing program, will lead the assembly in the Florence Nightingale Pledge and Brouder and Claycomb will then recognize students' special achievements throughout their two-year program.

The Nightingale Pledge, first used in 1893, is an adaptation of the Hippocratic Oath taken by physicians and reads:

I solemnly pledge myself before God and in the presence of this assembly, to pass my life in purity and to practice my profession faithfully. I will abstain from whatever is deleterious and mischievous, and will not take or knowingly administer any harmful drug. I will do all in my power to maintain and elevate the standard of my profession, and will hold in confidence all personal matters committed to my keeping and all family affairs coming to my knowledge in the practice of my calling. With loyalty will I endeavor to... devote myself to the welfare of those committed to my care.

Click here for a map of the Columbia College campus. You may use any campus parking lot, but plan on arriving early.