College Graduation

Like i said earlier....i have finally completed a rite of passage. i graduated from college. actually, i graduated from nursing school. it is even more exciting. i am one of those few college graduates who will actually be using their degree....funny huh. (this is a sad fact for all college graduates out there. funny how life works.)

anyways, it was a really exciting time. we walked out to the sounds of bagpipes, which i thought was awesome. the ceremony that i went to was the special pinning ceremony. there some rich history that i was unclear. so to solve this issue, i googled nursing pinning and this is what i found. (this information was borrowed from http://ceeps.colostate-pueblo.edu/nursing/pinning.htm)

THE PINNING CEREMONY

The tradition of the nursing pin and the ceremonial pinning we know today, actually originated in the 1860's at the Nightingale School of Nursing at St. Thomas Hospital in London. Having been recently awarded The Red Cross of St. George for her selfless service to the injured and dying in the Crimean War, Florence chose to extend this honor to her most outstanding graduate nurses by presenting each of them with a medal for excellence.

The Wolverton Royal Hospital in England initiated the tradition of presenting all graduates with a badge. The first pin was presented to the graduating class of 1880 at the Bellevue Hospital of Nursing in New York City. The pin presented to graduates was both beautiful and symbolic. It featured a crane in the center for vigilance, encircled with a band of blue for constancy, and an outer band of red for mercy and relief of suffering. Dr. Opas reports that by 1916 the practice of pinning new nurses was common in schools throughout the United Kingdom and North America.

so anyways, i had my pinning ceremony. my family, abby bain, and other people who have been involved in my schooling attended and it was great. it didn't actually hit me until the middle of the ceremony that i was graduating, as weird as that may sound. its exciting. so here are some pictures from this event.