June 13, 2012
06/14/12 On Sunday, June 10, Ancilla College held its 2012 Nurse Pinning Ceremony. Each student graduating from the Nursing Program received the Ancilla College Nursing pin, as is traditional in nursing schools across the United States. This tradition was begun by Florence Nightingale to recognize outstanding nursing students upon their graduation. Each nursing pin is unique to the school of nursing; it is coveted and proudly worn by nurses today as a testament to their hard work, dedication to the profession, and quality patient care.
Many students and their family members attended the pinning. The group was addressed by the guest speaker, Loretta Schmidt RN, MSN, CCRN, who is the Chief Operating Officer/Chief Nursing Officer of Saint Joseph Regional Medical Center in Plymouth and Director of Quality for the Saint Joseph System (Mishawaka and Plymouth). Schmidt was instrumental in leading SJRMC to receiving the Thomson Reuters Top 15 Health System Award and in Plymouth receiving the Top 100 Hospital Award this year. At the ceremony, Schmidt spoke of her experience as a nurse and the pitfalls of healthcare, stressing the responsibility of all nurses to correct those pitfalls within their daily practice.
“We are very proud of each and every nursing student who graduated and was pinned today,” said Ann Fitzgerald, Director of Nursing and Health Sciences Division at Ancilla College. “Although nursing has a need for more professionals in every aspect, nursing education is not an easy path to take. Students who succeed are dedicated, intelligent, caring, hard-working, critical thinkers. They must assess and respond quickly in many situations while taking control with communication and delegation to other healthcare professionals to provide the necessary care to individual patients and their families; not an easy task, but nurses do it every day. We are very proud and happy for each one of the students.”
Ancilla College (www.ancilla.edu) is a Catholic, two-year, co-educational, liberal arts college in Donaldson, Indiana, sponsored by the Poor Handmaids of Jesus Christ.
Photo included as attachment.
Front row (L-R): Victoria Garcia, Nichole Reading, Kelsey Johnson, Christina Bajer
Back row (L-R): Kelly Tribbey, Megan Hatfield, Tami Ali, Mike Barney