Associate in Science in Nursing Graduates Honored in Pinning Ceremony
SFSC honored 40 Associate in Science in Nursing (ADN) students in a traditional pinning ceremony on Thursday, Dec. 5 at the Alan Jay Arena in Sebring.
The graduates are Brittany Baker, Joe Byers, Katie Camacho, Mayra Cardenas, Miriam Carranza, Marissa Cervantes, Brooke Conklin, Hayleigh Cruz, Kiara Delgado, Cameron Eason, Raeanne Elder, Savanah Ewing, Yulissa Flores, Jonathan Go, Samantha Gonzales, Nancy Guerrero-Tapia, Ashanti Hipps, Alayna Jester, Helen Kulda, Kobe Labra, Maria Lopez Chavez, Lizbeth Lopez Hernandez, Makayla Malcolm, Kristie McGee, Jonathan Medina, Keyshauna Parhams, Katie Peña, Alicia Perry, Na’Talya Perry, Shana Quinn, Vianney Ramirez, Deanna Rhyne, Abraham Rivera Libores, Rodrick Rivers, Charolette Scott, Jessica Steffen, Mikaela Valdez, Benjamin Warren, Jeffory William II, and Mariah Zamora.
Guest speaker for the ceremony was MaryEllen Powrie, SFSC Nursing instructor. Each year, Nursing graduates award the Golden D.U.C.K. to someone who has served as a mentor to the students in the program. The D.U.C.K. acronym represents the foundational elements of the mentoring arrangement: Developing, Understanding, Compassion, and Knowledge. Nursing graduates presented the 2024 Golden D.U.C.K. Award to The Ridge Area ARC.
Two Nursing graduates received special honors. Hayleigh Cruz was presented the Thakkar Academic Excellence Award and Jonathan Go was presented the Thakkar Clinical Excellence Award.
During the ceremony, the graduates’ loved ones presented them with their individual nursing pins. The graduates, then, passed the flame of a lamp, one to another, before reciting the Nightingale Pledge.
The pinning we know today originated in the 1850s at the Nightingale School of Nursing at St. Thomas Hospital in London. Having been awarded the Red Cross of St. George for her selfless service to the injured and dying during the Crimean War, Florence Nightingale chose to extend this offer to her most outstanding graduating nurses by presenting each of them with a medal of excellence. The presentation of the lamp is a symbol of the caring devotion nurses administer to the sick and injured in the practice of nursing. After nurses were pinned, Nightingale would light a lamp and pass the flame to each nurse as they recited the pledge. The passing of the flame represents a formal welcoming of new nurses to the profession.
Graduates of the ADN program become registered nurses by passing the National Council Licensure Examination for Registered Nurses (NCLEX-RN). SFSC Nursing graduates are usually fully employed in nursing within a few months of graduation.
SFSC offers an online Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN), a two-year generic Associate in Science in Nursing, a 13-month transition licensed practical nurse to registered nurse Associate in Science in Nursing, and an 11-month Practical Nursing (PN) Career Certificate. For more information about SFSC’s Nursing programs, contact Danielle Ochoa, Health Sciences advisor, at ext. 7027 or by email at healthsciences@southflorida.edu.
