RESERVE — In the presence of family, Dean Penny Shumaker and Practical Nursing instructors Christina Costanza and Tiffanie Bourgeois recently celebrated the graduation of 13 Practical Nursing students in a Pinning Ceremony at the Reserve Campus.

The Ceremony is a welcoming of newly graduated Nurses into the Nursing profession. The time-honored tradition is an important symbol of nursing students’ hard work and dedication.

After the LPN pin was placed on the graduates, the Candle Lighting portion of the ceremony began.  Each student held a lamp-lighted candle commemorating Florence Nightingale’s history of helping wounded soldiers at night by candlelight.

Students recited the Nurse’s Prayer and the Nightingale Pledge, which ended with the promise “With loyalty will I endeavor to aid the Physician in his work, and devote myself to the welfare of those committed to my care.”