OFTC Practical Nursing Students Receive Pin During December Ceremony

Six Oconee Fall Line Technical College (OFTC) Practical Nursing students were honored during the College’s December Pinning Ceremony held on the Dublin Campus, Monday, December 6. 

Each year OFTC holds this ceremony to symbolize the nursing student’s completion of the educational requirements needed to sit for the state board licensure examination and to welcome them into the family of nurses.   

“It is always amazing to see the growth of students from the time they enter the program to when they finish,” shared Kelly McAdams, OFTC Practical Nursing Instructor on the Dublin Campus. “Through all of the ups and downs, the times they wanted to give up and quit, they kept going and pushed through. We are proud of what these students have achieved and we hope they are too.”  

The tradition of the pinning ceremony dates to the Crusades when members of the Knight Hospitallers were honored with Maltese crosses after caring for wounded soldiers. Then in the 1860’s Florence Nightingale, the founder of modern nursing, continued the tradition when she decided all nursing students who completed nursing training deserved recognition.  

Kerri Fountain, (BSN, RN) a nursing instructor at OFTC delivered the ceremony address, congratulating the students on their accomplishment and offered encouragement for the coming days. 

“Nursing school is not easy by any means,” Fountain said. “I am so immensely proud of each of you. Not only have you been successful in college, but you’ve become nurses in the process.”  

During the ceremony each graduating nurse received their pin, lit the ceremonious candle, and recited the Nightingale Pledge in honor of Florence Nightingale.   

Graduating nurses were: Tybre Moye, Treutlen; Shanika Scott, Laurens; Marina Wilson, Dodge; Gabrielle Howard, Laurens; Sykia Folsom, Laurens; Katelyn Peeler, Washington.  

For more info on OFTC’s Practical Nursing program, visit the College’s website, OFTC.edu. 

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