LVN/LPN GRaduation Ceremony help

princessmogan · Jul 25, 2005

Hi Laura...congrats on your upcoming graduation!

Let me tell you what we did and then offer my two cents:

For our LPN graduation we did an incredibly cheap and simple ceremony:

dress was casual, everyone brought a salad, side dish or dessert and meat for a BBQ was donated by a local company (there where only probably about 60 in attendance in all). This was all done in a local park (free). Everyone bought their own pins - everything from fancy to $1 pins bought online or found in a used store. Everything lasted about an hour and a half. Everyone ate while the instuctors called out the names of graduates, they came to the front of the gazebo, were pinned, and that was that!

Now, we did a total 360 for our RN graduation:

Dress was semi formal (or as one person put it "professional"). The class (of about 45) donated $20 each and a local auditorium was rented for the ceremony. There were two simple flower arrangements on stage. The class sat in chairs on stage while the audience watched. The ceremony began with a slide show from the previous two years (disposable cameras were purchased early on with some of the money for people to use when that kodak moment arose), progressed on to an opening speech by the nursing director, welcome from the top student, pinning of students (we each wrote our own ambitions to be read at this time by an instructor), the nursing prayer was read by a chosen student, invitation to cake and punch in the basement was given to audience and we all walked out to "Time of Your Life" - Green Day. We then all proceeded downstairs for cake and punch. Punch was simple and cake came from Cosco. One student was in charge of each thing.

Unfortunately we had a committee of about four close friends that took it upon themselves to give this huge production, but looking back, it doesn't matter - it's only about an hour and a half of your life and you soon get over it. It wasn't the hilight of my career, but a good end to the program.

If it were me I would have kept it more simple. The park & BBQ idea is my preference, but it all depends on what the class wants. I say keep it as simple or as elegant as your budget allows. Consider snacks, cake & punch, a dinner, etc. Make the pinning special! Good luck!

Good evening all!
my name is Laura and i am currently a Vocational Nursing Student. I am lucky to be part of the first graduating LVN class at my local vocational school. Although it's an honor being part of the first graduating class, there's also a few draw backs. One is that no one has organized a graduation ceremony for us, so it's up to us "student body" to organize it. As one of the officers, I've looked into this, but have often fallen short of ideas. Does anyone out there have any suggestions? Our graduation is set for November, which is just around the corner. Any help will be greatly appreciated.
Thanks for your time.