By
Karen Kearsley, RN
SNJourney.com
 The
Pinning Ceremony is a wonderful time-honored nursing school
tradition, dating back before the turn of the twentieth century.
Some schools view the pinning ceremony as an outdated ritual
and are abandoning it altogether. It is a more intimate version
of the graduation special to nursing graduates; a celebration
of what you and your class have accomplished during the past
two-four (sometimes more) years.
:
“I love that myself
and my classmates will get special recognition apart from
the other college graduates. In the graduation ceremony, there
are several hundred graduates. Everyone wears the same thing
so there is no distinction. I am quite excited that we get
our own separate ceremony, for those of us and our families
who understand what we've been through to get where we are.”
–Kim
“I graduated from nursing
school 4 years ago, and we were required to do pinning and
graduation. I can tell you that the pinning was more significant
to me. Not that these professions aren't important, but graduation
got lost to accountants and business type people. Pinning
was about the nurses. It was all of us, who had struggled
through the same thing and endured the same tortures. We would
just look at each other and cry, because this is what we had
all been talking about for sooooo long. And our loved ones,
the people who helped get us through it and sacrificed just
as much, were there with us. Our instructors pinned us. Very
formal affair. It just meant so much.” -Donna
 The
traditional ceremony starts with a processional of graduates
in white uniforms.
There is usually a guest
speaker and one or more student speakers, including the class
president or president of your local Student Nurses’
Association. Read past speaches here.
Awards are given out and
flowers are given to choice faculty members.
Reading of the Florence Nightingale
Pledge:
I solemnly pledge myself before God and in the presence of
this assembly, to pass my life in purity and to practice my
profession faithfully. I will abstain from whatever is deleterious
and mischievous, and will not take or knowingly administer
any harmful drug. I will do all in my power to maintain and
elevate the standard of my profession, and will hold in confidence
all personal matters committed to my keeping and all family
affairs coming to my knowledge in the practice of my calling.
With loyalty will I endeavor to aid the physician in his work,
and devote myself to the welfare of those committed to my
care.
Passing the flame, lighting candles as Florence Nightingale’s
lamplight was passed. A member of the faculty lights each
candle after the graduate is pinned and welcomes the new nurse
or, all graduates line up and the flame travels down the line
with, each graduate lighting their neighbor’s candle
welcoming them to nursing.
 Students
are wearing semi-formal attire or caps and gowns rather then
the traditional white uniforms.
Students are choosing who
pins them instead of one faculty member pinning all. Popular
choices are their child, spouse, parent, other relative, or
a favorite clinical instructor.
While the graduate is pinned
another reads their prepared words
of thanks and announce where they will start their career.
Including a 5-10 minute slide
show reflecting on the past years in school is a nice touch.
Use background music or have a voiceover of students reflecting
on their nursing school experience.
Reciting an updated Nursing Pledge such as:
Before God and in the presence
of this assembly we promise:
- To practice the art and
science of nursing, toward increasing patients’ physical
and emotional health, based on evidence and current nursing
research.
- To acknowledge the privilege
to hold their lives in our care, and practice nursing, in
partnership with our patients.
- To acknowledge the privilege
to comfort our dying patients, into death, with dignity.
- To hold those entrusted
to our care with respect, affirm their innate worth and
hold their privacies in confidence.
- To advocate for the health
and needs of our patients, respecting their cultural and
religious beliefs.
- To
act as leaders in promoting health throughout our communities.
- To
hold in esteem nursing educators, researchers, scholars
and experts who have guided our path, and are welcoming
us into the profession.
-
To help strengthen fellow nurses and advance the aims of
our nursing profession.
-
To share our knowledge with, encourage, and welcome future
nurses.
See more pledges here.
The passing of the
flame is still very popular as it is a beautiful part of the
ceremony.
So plan your pinning and
make it your own. Do what works for your class and it will
be a wonderful, beautiful and emotional ceremony you and your
loved ones will never forget.
 "Have
it at a local church to save money if you can't use a campus
facility."
"Using a ribbon with
the pin pinned to the ends so the "Pinner" places
it around the nurses neck makes it easier for children to
do the pinning. Also, you can have the pins of your relatives
pinned to the ribbon so you get pinned with your Grandmother/Mother's
pin as well."
"Enlist the help of
the Jr. class if you have to do set up and tear down."
"Rehearsals are a good
thing. All the kinks get worked out which makes for a less
stressful pinning."
"Impress upon your classmates
to arrive early. Our guests got a little
antsy waiting 45 min for late students! I know we live in
Los Angeles,
CA and that means heavy traffic, but you would think that
people would leave early. Otherwise, we had a beautiful pinning
ceremony for 37 students that lasted roughly 1.5 hrs (not
including the 45 min wait).
"Announcers should find
out how to pronounce the students' names to avoid butchering
them - LOL! Our instructors called us by first name only,
so last names can surprisingly be challenging."
"We
were pinned by 2 or 3 people, and the pinners had assigned
seating, as we did. The pins were attached to white ribbon,
which our pinner put around our neck onstage."
"We
recently had our pinning this month at 4:30pm. We rented a
large
ballroom and chose to have theatre seating (chairs only) to
seat all of
our guests and faculty. Many of us wanted to have several
guests attend, so in order to stay within our budget, we elected
to have simple refreshments rather than a formal dinner. Many
of my classmates are from out of state, so they were free
to eat dinner with their families then meet up at a class
party later on."
"Don't
assume the staff at the ballroom, hotel, etc. should know
to cut the cake or replenish the punch, etc. Ask for what
you want done BEFORE the event."
"We arranged our own flowers and gift bouquets for faculty
and honored guests. We voted for "Most likely to...earn
a PhD, become a Nursing Instructor, Class Clown, etc."
and placed their framed photos at the entrance table. Traditionally,
upcoming 4th semester class officers help set up, usher, hand
out class programs, and clean up.
Our
music was traditional. Pomp and Circumstance for the processional
-Single file in alphabetical order to fill the seats and standing
until the last person stood in front of her seat then we sat
as a group. Rondeau from Premiere Suite was chosen for the
recessional. We all stood up and departed single file, row
by row.
We
had 3 song selections playing during a 10 minute class DVD
that
caused even our 3 guys to get misty-eyed. The DVD was a mix
of stills and videos of student interviews describing their
nursing program
experiences. The interviews overlapped the stills as "voiceover"
or
narrative which was a very nice touch. Each of our class chairs
had a
candle, pledge, and a class DVD.
The
Dean of Nursing announced guest speakers, the class prez addressed
the class, and the other class officers took their turns at
the podium to announce student awards or to hand out gift
bouquets.
We
asked 2 faculty members to call us up to receive our class
pins. Each student's picture and chosen hospital and unit,
or choice of specialty was on the screen behind us as we received
our pins. Luckily, we were allowed to choose our pinners.
I chose my son and husband for all of their sacrifice and
support - a true "WE DID IT!" moment. Many students
chose their parents. Only one of us chose a nursing instructor.
Lastly,
we lined up single file onto the stage to light candles and
recite the Nightingale Pledge with our dean in the middle.
We used paper drip catchers rather than "Lamp of Knowledge"
candle holders and we had slips of paper with the pledge as
back up." -Tina Kloepfer, SN from SoCali
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