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Nurse Pinning Emphasizes Service to Others
Maranatha President Dr. Charles Phelps said he takes the school’s nursing program “very seriously.”
“I am the son of a nurse,” Phelps noted during Thursday afternoon’s pinning ceremony at the Maranatha gymnasium. “I thought I was done hearing disgusting stories at the dinner table. Then my younger sister became a nurse … then my baby sister … then my brother-in-law. I still get no peace at the dinner table.”
The 21 members of the second graduating class will soon have plenty of dinnertime stories to tell. Many already have jobs promised to them, pending their passing of the nursing board examinations this summer.
Barb Gerlach’s parents came from San Francisco to witness the ceremony. She plans to face the testing in June, then work at a trauma center in Denver. Jessica Biechy plans to work on the medical/surgical floor of a hospital in Reading, Pa.
“These girls have put in more than 1,000 nursing hours,” said Kelly Crum, who will replace Peggy Sutherland as department Chair this summer. “That includes 315 hours of clinical experience in a hospital for their practicum, working 8-to-12 hour shifts. There has been a lot of laughter, tears, and hard work.”
Phelps gave a short message from Matthew 5:16, emphasizing the need for Christian nurses with compassion who can serve both in the U.S. and on the mission field. Sutherland then presented Biechy with the Florence Nightingale Award.
“It was totally a surprise,” said Biechy (right), who was even more surprised to later find out that a $100 prize accompanies the award.
The graduates were called to the front, two at a time, to have their pins affixed by a family member. The candles in their white ceramic lamps were then lit by a nursing faculty member.
When all the graduates had received their pins and lamps, they recited the “Nightingale Pledge.” The pledge, written in 1893, begins with a promise “before God and in the presence of this assembly” to “pass my life in purity and to practice my profession faithfully.”
2008 Nurse Pinning
Pinning Ceremony Program
The Nursing Department at Maranatha was excited to hold its first pinning ceremony on Thursday, May 1, 2008. After being welcomed by Department Chair Peggy Sutherland, the group, which consisted of the nursing students, family members, faculty, staff, and friends, was led in prayer by Dr. John Brock. Mrs. Linda Huffstutler, a nursing faculty member, then gave an interesting presentation on Florence Nightingale. This outstanding woman revolutionized nursing through her efforts during the Crimean War, becoming known as "The Lady with the Lamp." Because of this title, nursing students all over the world are given a small lamp during their pinning ceremony, symbolizing Nightingale's dedication to her profession.
After this presentation, the nursing students took part in the candle lighting ceremony, where faculty members Diane Bridge and Sandra Heine lit the student's lamps, then led them in reciting the Nightingale pledge. Each student was then pinned by a family member or close friend. The graduating seniors of 2008 were:
Lydia Bird
Leah Blondke
Nadine Callan
Jennifer Franz
Elizabeth Sharp Gaffney
Shasta Mikolowski
John Ruffin IV
Dr. Chuck Phelps, Maranatha's president, challenged the nursing students to be an excellent example of their profession as they go out into the world, giving several humorous examples from his own history (his mother and two sisters were nurses). After he closed in prayer, student Leah Blondke jumped up to announce a surprise for Mrs. Peggy Sutherland, who is retiring this year. The students had put together a nursing version of Maranatha's famous "BRAPSIS2" (an acrostic that describes Baptist belief):
Battle Axe--Final rule of nursing practice
Rejected and invalid care plans
All those nursing theorists
Practically Death (the only thing that excused them from classes!)
Slacks Liberty
Incontinence and Suppositories--the two dreaded nursing tasks
Separation socially and educationally
Selebration!
After much laughter and applause, the students gave Mrs. Sutherland several gifts, including a candle holder, a signed photograph of the senior class, a figurine of an "old crab" (an affection term :^)), and a plaque about retirement. The ceremony concluded, everyone partook of great food, smiles, hugs, and tears.