OFTC Practical Nursing Students Receive Pin During Fall 2022 Pinning Ceremony 

OFTC Practical Nursing students during the Fall 2022 Pinning Ceremony held for the Dublin Campus cohort.
OFTC Practical Nursing students during the Fall 2022 Pinning Ceremony held for the Dublin Campus cohort. Bottom Row, L-R: Kimberly O’Quinn, Sierra Richardson, Tiffany Tanner, Melissa Baker, Brittany Spikes, Andrea O’Neal; Left to right, top row: Alyssa Garner, LeEardra Turner, Alyssa Bussell, Kristen Raffield, Brianna Snead, Robbie Cook.

Twelve Oconee Fall Line Technical College (OFTC) Practical Nursing (PN) students were honored during the College’s Fall 2022 Pinning Ceremony held on the Dublin Campus, Monday, December 5.  

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, PN Instructor on the Dublin Campus. “Through all 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. 

Tindel Daniels, RN, is the Wound Care Nurse at Fairview Park Hospital and delivered the ceremony address, encouraging students as they prepare to enter the nursing field. 

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 Melissa Baker, Laurens; Alyssa Bussell, Washington; Robbie Cook, Toombs; Alyssa Garner, Laurens; Andrea O’Neal, Laurens; Kimberly O’Quinn, Laurens; Kristen Raffield, Laurens; Sierra Richardson, Treutlen; Brianna Snead, Treutlen; Brittany Spikes, Telfair; Tiffany Tanner, Dodge; and LeEardra Turner, Bulloch.  

For more info on OFTC’s Practical Nursing program, visit OFTC.edu/departments/nursing/.

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