GCC students pinned for nursing success

One of the leading figures in modern nursing, Florence Nightingale, didn’t believe in graduations, because she thought people should never stop learning, Cynthia Dorroh, the director of nursing programs at Glendale Community College, told a room full of brand-new nurses Friday.

So rather than having graduation ceremonies, many nursing schools across the country have “pinning ceremonies,” a symbolic event in which students who have completed their nursing studies receive a pin, Dorroh said.

On Friday, 55 new nurses who completed their studies at Glendale Community College this month were “pinned” in a ceremony at Lanterman Auditorium in La Cañada Flintridge.

“A nursing pin is like a hard-earned badge of honor,” Dorroh said.

The class of nurses who were pinned Friday had completed the two-year nursing program at the college this semester. They were graduating with associate’s degrees in registered nursing or certificates in registered nursing, and will be able to work as registered nurses after they pass the national licensing exam, said Marilyn Getz, an assistant professor of nursing at the college.

In speeches in front of faculty, family and friends, several members of the class discussed the rigor of the nursing program, which includes both classroom study and clinical experience in local hospitals.

“My nursing school experience felt like a military boot camp,” Ram Alanes said in an address to his classmates. Alanes said the program, with its 12-hour hospital shifts and many exams, was physically and mentally grueling.

Several of the new nurses said they had chosen the profession because of its rewarding nature.

“You meet someone new every day,” said Vinchenza Harley, 27, the president of the class. “Families trust you to take care of their most priceless possessions.”

Harley came to the nursing program after finishing a bachelor’s degree in biology at the UC Davis.

Other students, such as Haleh Zahab, were changing careers to come to nursing. Zahab, 36, had worked as a bookkeeper before she came to nursing school.

“I have two kids, and I’ve had really good experiences in the hospital,” Zahab said.

“It was just good experiences all around with the nurses.”

The pinning ceremony used to be a “capping” ceremony, Getz said, where nurses received black and white hats as part of their uniforms to symbolize their credentials.

Getz received a cap when she became a nurse in 1975, but now that nurses don’t wear hats as part of their hospital uniforms, the tradition has changed and nurses receive pins specific to their schools.

As each new nurse walked on stage to receive their pin, the college showed their photo on a projection screen, sometimes with a caption explaining where the graduate was going to be working.

In part because of the nursing shortage in California, many of the nurses have secured jobs already, and others haven’t picked a position because they haven’t had time to weigh their many offers, Dorroh said.