“Synergy” was the word of focus that Marcia Miller, Ph.D., RN, dean of the Division of Nursing and Sciences, had chosen for the 2022-23 school year. During the annual pinning ceremony for the nursing graduates of Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College (SMWC), Miller spoke to the graduating nurses and the audience filled with their family and friends about how the Class of 2023 has displayed synergy during their time at SMWC. In her charge to the gathering, she explained, “Although each person is a unique individual, they (the students) have created a cohort that has reached exceptional academic leadership, and most of all expressed concern and caring for others.”
Awards were also presented during the ceremony. Miller presented the Friends of Nursing Award to Yeijin Yeom, Ph.D., a past SMWC nursing faculty member and current Dean of the Leach College of Nursing at the University of St. Francis. Joshua Isham-Dean, MSN, RN, lecturer of nursing, presented the Outstanding Senior Scholarly Project to Cassandra Heaton for a project created for the Visiting Nurses Association and Wabash Valley Hospice. The Outstanding Nursing Instructor was presented to Andrew Delnat, MSN, RN, lecturer of nursing.
Crystal White, DNP, FNP-C, RN, FNP program director, individually blessed each pair of hands of each graduate before the pinning portion of the program.
For the pinning, the 20 pin recipients were each called by name, and each had chosen family members and friends to accompany them and place their pin on them. The pin adorns a lamp, symbolizing the lit lamp used by Florence Nightingale while caring for injured soldiers during the Crimean War. It reiterates the meaning of nursing with care and hope. The nursing pin and the ceremonial pinning tradition originated in the late 1800s.
Those receiving pins were:
- Brooke Andrus
- Christina Damanis
- Claire Gillen
- Cassandra Heaton
- Caroline Gadlage
- Jesylan Bedwell
- Emma Leturgez
- Dominique Linder
- Emily Little
- Taylor Mason
- Faith Pokryfke
- Hunter Reed
- Gwyneth Renfro
- Ashley Rogers
- Emilee Roush
- Michelle Teepe
- Zoe Trausch
- Madison Varvel
- Olivia Welch
- Ashley Wells
Student speaker Emilee Roush told her fellow graduates, “Remember the days when we dreamed of this and remember the people who need us. Also, remember who helped you get to where you are.”
