No Pinning Ceremony??

[sh1901]

Well, after all this hard work, we find out at orientation this semester that we will probably NOT have a pinning ceremony at the end of the semester. I'm kinda upset about this. Our first semester they started hyping up the pinning ceremony, how moving it is & that it was such an important rite of passage. Apparently, they were blowing smoke up my rectum...grrrr!!

Apparently the reason behind this is that the instructor who normally heads up the planning of the ceremony in on sebadical this semester - really? You are going to deny a class of graduating nurses of having a pinning ceremony because someone is on a sebadical? Are you seriously unable to take any extra time out to do this? I would not even mind working on it, but apparently at our school you need a faculty member involved or it doesn't happen.

Am I wrong to have my nose so out of joint over this?

[DayDreamin ER CRNP]

Why not go to the associate dean or whomever and see about doing it yourselves? I'm sure you could find an instructor that has been there a while that could at least advise you.

Our class officers and our chapter of NSNA put on our pinning ceremonies each semester.

I'm not sure yet what all goes into planning or what exactly goes on during the ceremony but I'm sure would be easy info to find from someone at your school.

[CrunchyMama, ASN, RN]

That's really sad! I hope your school eventually makes a different decision.:hug:

[elkpark]

The pinning ceremony originated with the hospital-based diploma nursing schools -- at those schools, the pinning ceremony was the official graduation ceremony. Now that most nursing programs are ADN or BSN degrees, those schools have a school-wide graduation/commencement ceremony and a "pinning ceremony" is redundant. More and more schools are balking at providing a separate special ceremony for the nursing graduates (above and beyond the school-wide commencement ceremony and above and beyond what is provided for graduates in the other majors), and, as much as I treasure my memories of the pinning ceremonies at my diploma school, I can see their point. This is why, at more and more schools, the students are putting on their own "pinning ceremony," which makes as much sense as students putting on their own commencement and giving themselves their degrees ... (It also really bugs the administration at colleges and universities that so many nursing students skip the commencement ceremony -- that creates a lot of ill will in the general college administration toward pinning ceremonies.)

TPTB in nursing education made a huge fuss for many years about how nursing education needed to move out of hospital-based schools and into colleges and universities; they got their way, for the most part, and now people are upset that those institutions don't feel any connection to a tradition of the hospital schools. We can't have it both ways -- graduation from a nursing program in a college or university is the college or university-wide commencement ceremony.

[tokyoROSE, BSN, RN]

That just seems odd. If your class really wants to do a pinning ceremony, get permission from the dean & organize it yourselves!

However, am I the only one who doesn't care about the pinning ceremony? Once I get my degree and my license, I will be the happiest girl in the world. But I have never been a fan of ceremonies. I graduated high school early and skipped graduation -- had the diploma sent to me. Here's to hoping I can do the same next year.

[llg, PhD, RN]

However, am I the only one who doesn't care about the pinning ceremony?

No. If you do a search of this site, you'll find several threads in which people discuss the political hassles of classes trying to agree on what to do about pinning, etc. ... and you'll find plenty of people who would just as soon skip the whole thing.

I had one years ago -- and barely remember it. My actual university commencement the next day (when I actually got my degree) mattered more to me -- and was more fun. I sat with my friends in the football stadium. The people in front of us were smoking pot. So, there we sat in a cloud of smoke -- a good last college memory.

[itsmejuli]

When I graduated LPN, we had a commencement ceremony with 2 LPN classes and 2 RN classes. if someone wanted to be "pinned" they bought the pin and arranged for an instructor to "pin" them. I was more excited about getting the gold braid for graduating with honors and second in my class. When I get my AS degree I want "cum laude" on it.

[luvthegsp]

When I get my AS degree I want "cum laude" on it.

NOPE! That is for BS level academics.

[CrazierThanYou]

If someone is on sabbatical, then it seems like someone else should plan it.

[traumaRUs, MSN, APRN]

If your class wants it, then offer to plan it. To me, that would kill two birds with one stone: you would have the pinning ceremony and since you are planning it, it would be exactly what you want.