I am in my fourth semester, and the pinning ceremony is in December. The ceremony is traditional in that the female students wear the white cap, we'll light our 'lamps', and we will be 'pinned' by the professors who taught fourth semester. Students are required to wear white, and the school allows a little leeway- white tops/pants paired with white shoes (or white dresses or tops/skirts if the women prefer) are all acceptable for the ceremony.
This fall, however, there has been quite a bit of grumbling among some of the students about having to wear the caps. They feel it is ridiculous to pay the fee (ours is only $20) to purchase a cap they feel they will never wear again. This has caused such an uproar that it was put to a vote. While we are waiting for the final tally, I am disgusted at their attitudes towards wearing the caps. For the record, it isn't about coming up with the money for buying the caps- fund raising and 'loaning' of caps from previous graduates of the program have all been suggested as options for those unable to provide the funds. It is a few students having a fit because they feel they are being forced to come up with even more money to put into a program they've already paid 'too much for' to begin with.
I feel that Nursing isn't just a job, its also a tradition, and the cap is one of the symbols of the profession- a badge of sorts. Generations of nurses before me have all worn the cap, both on the job and at their pinning, and there are thousands of pictures hanging on walls or in photo albums of women who have completed their training. I have worked very hard to finish the program, and I feel that being able to wear the hat (even if only for the two hours at pinning and never again) is an honor. I am part of something that has endured, that is respected, and is more than just a big paycheck.
I would like to find out what others have to say about wearing the caps...what it meant or will mean to them to wear the cap, and how you feel about a school throwing away a vital part of a tradition.
I'm always surprised by how much drama there is concerning these silly ceremonies.
I'm greatly looking forward to graduating, and I understand that the historical aspects of these ceremonies are important to some people.
I'm not particularly interested in attending either pinning or graduation, but I will be there with bells (or white clothes) on, if it's what I need to do to graduate and go to work. I'd wear a pink mumu if I had to.
Why is this always so dramatic? It's a couple of hours of your life. Wear the silly hat, get your license, and go on with your life, people!
Amen! My nursing class had major melodrama over photos and caps, divided into two warring factions. (I was in the pro-cap for pinning group, and pro-outdoor group photo )
In retrospect, I can't believe I got caught up in it. A lot of it had to do with personality conflicts that had been brewing for two long, stressful years, and them coming to a head.
My advise to the OP: Don't get caught up in it! I don't even know where any of my classmates are now, it's definately not worth it.
I just graduated and my pinning was boring. We had some speaker ,who just happens to donate money to the school, that talked to us about?????????????? can't remember. The only thing I was impressed with was walking up on stage to be pinned by my daughter. I think that my pinning could have been shorter and a little more interesting. And no we did not have to wear the nurses hats. Only white scrubs which made everyone look like they had been nurses for years.
I'm with everyone who says they will wear whatever it takes to receive that pin, pink mumu--purple leopard print, I don't care!
I am not sure what our class will vote, I have heard a number say they don't want to wear white etc.
One of my classmates and I have already decided that we are going to have our pictures done together graduation week and we are planning on ordering caps off line and will be wearing white for them. I have a beautiful photo of my grandmother and mother, both wearing white and white caps, and I want my photo right beside theirs. :)
I wish my classmates and I had a graduation.The uniform was HUGE issue.... some girls said "oh i want to wear a white dress" and the other half (including me) wanted to do it in the traditional way. Different drama caused us not to have a graduation.... I was heart broken. I worked hard for two years and I did not get the graduation I deserved. So my mom ended having a plaque made in my honor me graduating.
Originally Posted by Jenny67 I have a beautiful photo of my grandmother and mother, both wearing white and white caps, and I want my photo right beside theirs.
That is SO beautiful!!!!
And to Sunsyne2008 - I would be furious if I were you, that really stinks!!! I'm sorry!
I'd really like to have the cap for graduation. I took my first steps as a child at my aunt's capping ceremony and I'd love to invite her to mine. Plus I just think the cap looks snazzy. One of our instructors brought her cap (which she wore as a floor nurse till she left to teach in the mid 90s) to clinicals and had us all try it on, and we all looked so... nursey!
Unfortunately, my school doesn't do capping, and it makes me a little sad. I don't think they're very practical in a modern hospital setting (I surely wouldn't want to wear one into a MRSA iso room), but I do think they are part of an admirable tradition (and yes, I'm aware of all the rants about them being "servant's" caps, but as someone with a long-standing interest in costuming and uniform history, I believe it's really much more complicated than that).
Other professions take pride in traditional, symbolic transitions that may not be practical for modern daily work: receiving officer's rank from a loved on in the military, hoods at graduation for doctors, receiving a dress uniform with formal cap and fancy badge for LEOs, etc.). I don't see why nurses shouldn't have the same thing. We work hard, and it would be nice to at least have the official ceremony acknowledging that transition from student to nurse, even if shortly thereafter we head off to work where we're indistinguishable in the hallway from every other member of the healthcare team except by our IDs.
There's another program nearby where the students have the choice to wear scrub dresses at clinical, and most of them do, and whenever I see them while I'm at work I think they look SO sharp, way better than our program's white scrubs. I think that's what I'm going to wear for graduation, if they'll let me (some years we're allowed to choose our own whites, other years the class votes on one style).
I think the cap is a lost cause for me, though. Sigh.
I can't wait to wear my white hat. Its tradition and that's what make the nursing graduation so special. In my school, we will be pinned at our graduation, so we have to wear the white hats and the same white uniform. Some students didn't like it, but it's tradition and you new what graduation or the pinning ceremony would be like when you signed on the dotted line to attend that school.
I am with you on this one!! I really wanted us to wear caps for our pinning - however, that did not happen. To me it has to do with tradition and pride in our history as RN's and the profession as a whole. Today's society is so wrapped up in how we look and what is fashionable and what is not. A cap at pinning has nothing to do with being in a fashion show - it has to do with PRIDE!!
I am sure if they were attending a traditional graduation, they would have batted an eye on purchasing a gown and mortarboard (did I spell that right?)...obviously you aren't going to wear that again.
Either they want to be a part of the ceremony or not, is how I see it. I think the SCHOOL, not the students, should establish the tradition and give the students the option to participate.
Our pinning ceremony is very, very sad....be very fortunate that they are at least putting forth an effort.
i had a cap and i think it is something really special because i earned it... we did not get ours until 3rd semester..and then got the school stripes on it 6th semester.. it will always remind me of the torture i went through in nursing school to earn it :)
it makes me proud of what i accomplished and makes me feel like a part of the profession even if it outdated. although i do think it is a little tooo big and i will never wear it again, i am happy i had it and i am going to keep it along with my "student nurse" patch from my clinical uniforms.
the school has since done away with the capping tradition and the underclassmen were really bummed when they saw us with ours on. one even offered to buy mine.
FireStarterRN, BSN, RN
3,824 Posts
Amen! My nursing class had major melodrama over photos and caps, divided into two warring factions. (I was in the pro-cap for pinning group, and pro-outdoor group photo
)
In retrospect, I can't believe I got caught up in it. A lot of it had to do with personality conflicts that had been brewing for two long, stressful years, and them coming to a head.
My advise to the OP: Don't get caught up in it! I don't even know where any of my classmates are now, it's definately not worth it.