Much Needed Time Off
Once again, I volunteered at the May 2013 RN Pinning Ceremony. These are the students I started RN school with, until my life changed and I had to leave school. I may only be one semester behind them, graduating in December, but it feels like a lifetime.
The RN Pinning Ceremony is a tradition in most Nursing schools. For students who have already been through a college graduation, at a large school, like me, the Pinning Ceremony is infinitely more special than the graduation ceremony. Students are pinned, with an RN pin, by their last clinical instructor. The entire faculty and staff of the Nursing School typically attend, so it is very intimate and personal for the students. Each graduate takes the “Nightingale Pledge,” based on the Hippocratic Oath and in honor of the founder of modern nursing, Florence Nightingale.
I look forward to my Pinning Ceremony, but for the next few days, I will celebrate those who reached this goal before I did. They will be outstanding, caring nurses who will provide holistic patient care.
Reading, Drinking and Dancing with a Chaser of Snark 
May 3, 2013 at 5:56 pm
My ceremony is in the fall! I did not think much of it until I read this posting, and now I am certain I will not take it for granted!
May 3, 2013 at 7:09 pm
RN Pinning Ceremonies are our induction into the profession. Don’t skip it! It is much more intimate and personal than graduation ceremonies, which involve the entire College/University. Since I “graduated” in 1991, I have no desire to sit through a long ceremony with students I either haven’t met, or won’t meet.
But, the Pinning Ceremony is special and focused on RN graduates, only. Do yourself a favor, and sit through one, before you finish your RN program!