Photos (left to right): Devon Herdon, Cori Miller and Toshirio Rivers.
ALBANY, GA – Because of the shelter-in-place mandate, Albany Technical College’s Associate of Nursing Program held the spring 2020 Virtual Pinning ceremony on Thursday, May 7, beginning at 5:30 p.m., via WebEx.
Six Albany Technical College students recited the Nightingale Pledge in honor of the sacred ceremony.
Pinning candidates include:
- Kenya Floyd
- Devon Herndon
- Tanique Howard
- Asia Jordan
- Cori Miller
- Toshirio Rivers
Special remarks were given by Dr. Emmett Griswold, Executive Vice President of Academic Affairs. An Introduction of Pinning Candidates was provided by Dr. Latrona Lanier as well as a special presentation.
“We are so proud of these nursing students. They were able to complete the necessary clinical hours and graduate with an associate degree. The need in our community for qualified nurses has never been emphasized more than now, during a pandemic that has hit Southwest Georgia so hard, and we celebrate their success,” said Dr. Anthony Parker, President of Albany Technical College.
A distinctive feature of the ceremony was the Nightingale Pledge. According to the Museum of Nursing History, this tradition goes back to England’s Maltese Cross, where the Crusaders wore the cross as a symbol of service to Christianity. As a result of Florence Nightingale’s influence, the importance of “nurses’ training” was recognized, and hospitals began developing programs. The Nightingale School of Nursing at St. Thomas’s Hospital in London designed and awarded a badge with a Maltese Cross to the nurses as they completed their program.
By 1916 the tradition had migrated to the United States. Eventually, all schools of nursing were awarding and designing custom pins. The nursing pin and ceremony are very meaningful to the graduating classes. It is a true symbol of the completion of educational requirements that enables a nurse to sit for state licensure
exams and eventually practice nursing.