Pinning ceremony question

altomga, ADN, BSN, MSN, DNP, RN, APRN · Jul 23, 2003

ok..may sound silly, but it was sort of a passage of right ceremony for me...

it was apart from college graduation and was meant just for us graduating nurses......

You work you A$$ off in school, but get no separate acknowledgement from the rest of the school.........pinning ceremonies are a tradition...personally I am glad I went to mine...

shelleybelle · Jul 23, 2003

I had my pinning tonight... it was awesome. It was our time.. and a time to honor our families for supporting us. It was very, very special to us... don't be so down on it... enjoy it!!! We did :)

rileygrl11, BSN, RN · Jul 23, 2003

Originally, I thought it would be corny too! BUT,....it was such an awesome experience for me. It was a chance to be rewarded for all that hard work in school and the it gave family and friends the opportunity to celebrate with you. While looking out at the audience, it gave me chills to see all the faces beaming with pride. It is a right of passage and something you will remember for ever. Please keep an open mind about it and go,...have a good time and celebrate!

Wren · Jul 23, 2003

Pinning is like other ceremonies or celebratory events that you might attend....graduations, recitals, showers and even weddings. They give the people who love you an opportunity to gather and congratulate you on achieving a milestone in your life. Corny? They certainly can be but at least most places don't have capping ceremonies now, do they? Always a challenge for the guys to get that nursing cap on!

Go and enjoy your day, you've earned it!

NurseDixie · Jul 23, 2003

I would go to pinning if we have a pinning ceremony. I graduate in December, there'll only be around 12 of us, the majority graduated in May. I don't know if we'll have one with such a small number of graduates, but I do hope so. Go, you'll enjoy it.

Gator,SN · Jul 23, 2003

Twarlik,

My pinning ceremony was a combination dinner/dance/pinning and it was beautiful and meaningful and corny and I loved every minute of it! I have 2 rolls of film with pictures of dancing and partying and some tears. When all the hard work and care plans and clinicals were finished, we celebrated together, and for a few last hours we were all together, happy and proud. All of us waiting for the promise of tomorrow and a brand new future. The tie that brought us together was a common goal and we weathered the storms of death, divorce, sick kids, nasty instructors, personal problems..... and when we all stood in a circle holding hands for the last time we knew that we had accomplished something special.

GO to your pinning! Enjoy the moment. If you hate it, you have wasted an evening.....if you make wonderful memories, they will last a lifetime!

Good luck to you!

Gator

twarlik · Jul 23, 2003

It's not that I'm against the idea of celebrating my graduation from nursing school. This is my second degree, so I've been through the process before. It's just that so many accounts I've read make the pinning ceremony sound a little silly. Candle light processions...and that Nightingale Pledge just seems a little dated. Frankly a lot of it just seems like hold overs from a time when nursing was a female-only profession. I don't know for certain, but I doubt that medical school graduates are having candle light processions at their graduations. What's wrong with just having a regular graduation ceremony?

Gator,SN · Jul 23, 2003

Twarlik, I understand what you are saying!

My husband went with me to the PC and for seveal days before he kept asking, "how long are you planning on staying?"

?? like I knew that....ha ha! But he does not like all the flowery stuff like I do, so he just sat there and tried to look happy for me. He did get up and dance with me 'to the slow songs' but I knew

he just didn't get it.

I had one male in my whole class who is also a paramedic and he definitely did not want pinned, so he skipped the whole thing.

Now that I think about it, I guess it is sort of a female thing to hold hands in candlelight and get pinned...... not very manly????

We did have graduation the next day and Joe showed up for that.....I can see your point. I would guess though that the females in your class want to whole traditional thing.......

I suppose as more men enter the profession, things will change.

I don't know what to tell you except, You are graduating, enjoy the moment of that and best wishes in your new career!

Gator

Gator,SN · Jul 23, 2003

Oh and Twarlik, as far as medical schools go, I went to one graduation type thing once and they had a "white coat" ceremony.

Not a candle or pin in sight!

Gator

altomga, ADN, BSN, MSN, DNP, RN, APRN · Jul 23, 2003

Originally posted by twarlik
It's not that I'm against the idea of celebrating my graduation from nursing school. This is my second degree, so I've been through the process before. It's just that so many accounts I've read make the pinning ceremony sound a little silly. Candle light processions...and that Nightingale Pledge just seems a little dated. Frankly a lot of it just seems like hold overs from a time when nursing was a female-only profession. I don't know for certain, but I doubt that medical school graduates are having candle light processions at their graduations. What's wrong with just having a regular graduation ceremony?

twarlik

maybe you could suggest some ideas to make th e ceremony a little more gender friendly:D to fit both men and women. we did not have a candle ceremony, but we did say the pledge. one guy was in my class and he did go. a couple people in the class stood up and made speeches about "our time together" the trials and tribulations, etc....

med grads from the university near where I live have a match day and white coat day....talka 'bout silly to me.....but to them it is a HUGE day and full of celebration....it is what you make it out to be:)

good luck

shelleybelle · Jul 23, 2003

We had one guy in our class - and he got the "Nursing Student of the Year" award - he probably deserved it after putting up with 27 women (3 are instructors) for so long. He weathered it beautifully! He gave the benediction. I don't think ours was very corny at all. We did the candle thing, but it was short & sweet. We did hold hands... but we had a "thing". Before every single test we took, we all held hands and prayed together. So last night when Amy gave our invocation prayer, she asked us to "join hands one last time" and pray. Now that was very emotional.. of course, I was the crybaby of the class