Practical Nursing Pinning Ceremony held at Halifax CC

The 2011 Practical Nursing (PN) Pinning Ceremony was held in The Centre at Halifax Community College, July 28. College staff, family and guests gathered for the ceremony honoring the accomplishments of the class that included 14 members.

This was the ninth pinning ceremony for the PN program and the last Nash-Edgecombe-Wilson-Halifax (NEWH) Nursing Consortium PN class at the college. HCC President Dr. Ervin V. Griffin Sr. greeted those in attendance.

“All of you are winners,” said Griffin. “You are ready to tackle something new that will surely come in the nursing profession.”

The keynote speaker for the event was School Chair of Nursing and Allied Health at HCC Kelly Harvey.

Harvey talked about her time in nursing school and focused on the 10 things that she wished she had learned while in nursing school. Among these lessons were: (1) join a professional organization, (2) don’t try to be a superwoman, (3) you will be on the floor working with experienced nurses that know more than you—listen and learn from them, (4) doctors diagnose patients, (5) all of the patients all the time belong to all of us, (6) be sure you know how to use the equipment before trying it out, (7) mistakes will happen so be honest and use that experience to grow and learn, (8) you will not always be appreciated, (9) bad things sometimes happen to really good people, and (10) have fun.

“Love this profession,” said Harvey. “Embrace everything there is about being a nurse. Being a nurse doesn’t just change what you do, it changes who you are.”