Nursing students gathered in the Student Center Ballroom Friday for the White Coat Ceremony, which commemorates the beginning of their concentrated clinical experience.
Bradley’s nursing department was one of 100 recipients nationwide of the grant to fund this ceremony.
Students were given white coats and specially designed pins to remind them of their oath and commitment to provide quality care to their patients.
“This ceremony is meant to instill in students a reminder that they not only take care of patients, but that they also care for them in a humanistic manner every day of their professional lives,” Nursing Department Associate Chair Peggy Flannigan said.
The White Coat Ceremony is traditionally practiced by dental and medical students. In spring of 2014, however, the American Association of Colleges of Nursing partnered with the Arnold P. Gold Foundation to supply funds for similar ceremonies designed for nurses.
Alumna Linda Curry was the keynote speaker, speaking about her calling as a nurse and how she knew from a young age she was meant to care for others.
She shared advice about nursing school and practice, stressing that life is a learning process, in which school cannot teach students everything.
“There will be times when you cry,” Curry said. “There will be times when you’re afraid, and that’s okay.”
She reminded the students that nurses must have compassion and also own up to their mistakes.
Furthermore, she said that nursing is a calling, not just a profession.
“I think the ceremony went very well,” junior nursing major Guadalupe Flores said. “It made me feel very special as a nurse. It made me a little emotional, and it got me ready to start my journey.”
According to Flannigan, the ceremony was well received, and the nursing department plans to have another White Coat Ceremony next year.
