ALBANY, GA – The Albany Technical College Practical Nursing Program will hold a spring 2021 Virtual Pinning ceremony on Tuesday, May 4, beginning at 4:00 p.m., via the college’s YouTube channel.
Ten Albany Technical College students will recite the Nightingale Pledge in honor of the sacred ceremony.
Pinning candidates include:
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Six additional students will be capped to commend them on reaching the halfway point.
Capping candidates include:
- Adrinne Brown
- Kitano Cromartie
- Vanzolla Davis
- Tiffany Edmonds
- Clara Norton
- Shakerria Tullis
“We are always so proud to see these nursing students graduate. 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 so important and we celebrate their success,” said Anthony Parker, President of Albany Technical College.
Guest speaker for the ceremony is Anita Edenfield, Practical Nursing Instructor at Albany Technical College.
Anita Edenfield, a native of Florence Alabama, became a nurse aide on a Labor and Delivery unit at a Valdosta Hospital early in life. It was then that she knew that she wanted to be a nurse. From there, she went on her journey to do just that. Anita first obtained her LPN license from Valdosta Technical School. She later moved here, to Albany, GA and attended Albany Junior College to obtain her Associate ‘degree in nursing. She continued to work in Labor and delivery and went on to Maternal Outreach Education for the 6th Perinatal Center in Georgia. At this time, she got her BSN from Thomas University. After Seven years, she traveled the east coast with Philips Medical Systems working with training for OB traceView and other informatic systems.
After coming back to Georgia, she lived and worked in Moultrie Georgia, where she became an Obstetrical Manager at Colquitt Regional Medical Center. Anita came back to Albany worked for Phoebe, as an Appeals and Denial Coordinator for years until she obtained employment with Albany Technical College in 2013 after retiring from Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital. She retired from ATC in December 2020 and has continued with ATC as an adjunct instructor.
Anita has a desire to teach, motivate and inspire others to become their best and to live their best life daily as they enjoy life.
A distinctive feature of the ceremony is always the Nightingale Pledge. According to the Museum of Nursing History, this tradition goes back to England 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.