Published
Don't know if this is the "right answer" or not ... but back in the olden days, when I was a student ... We had a ceremony -- a serious, committment ceremony at the beginning of our junior year of college -- during which we received the nursing caps that we would wear for our student clinical experiences. That was the point of our schooling at which we began taking care of actual patients, began wearing uniforms, etc. "Getting capped" and making a committment to provide good care was just as serious and as big a deal as getting a school pin at the end of the program.
We had a 2nd ceremony (a pinning ceremony) at the end of our senior year, the day before graduation. The pinning ceremony was just for the School of Nursing, of course. The following day, we had "graduation" with the whole university and officially received out BSN degrees.
So, we had 3 ceremonies:
1. Capping -- at the start of clinicals
2. Pinning -- at the end of nursing school
3. Graduation -- university-wide ceremony to receive the academic degree
However ... the expression "hat party" sound very casual to me, not like a formal school ceremony. Perhaps it refers to some irreverent ritual that students did involving their caps when they were finished with them.
samyaira
20 Posts
I'd like to find the meaning of a hat party and the origins of it, if possible. I've Googled "hat party" and "nursing school graduation" and some other terms, and I've searched this site too. My best guess is that it reflects a time when nurses wore white uniforms with hats and they got their hats at graduation. But if that is so, then what is a pinning ceremony for? Can someone "compare and contrast" the two ceremonies please?