Mid-State Technical College Recognizes Achievements of 42 Nursing Program Graduates
Thursday, December 14th, 2023 -- 8:01 AM
Mid-State Technical College recognized the achievements of its 42 Nursing program completers in a pinning ceremony Dec. 12 on the Wisconsin Rapids Campus. Graduates were joined by their family and friends in the celebration.
The nursing pinning ceremony is a celebratory endcap to a nursing student’s academic career and a bridge between nursing school and a nursing career. It honors and celebrates nursing students and their journey to becoming a nurse.
It is also a day of celebration for the nursing faculty who have helped the students reach their goals. The graduating Nursing program students completed several rigorous courses over the past few years.
These courses required them to write numerous nursing care plans, practice endless skills in labs and attend over 750 hours of clinical. For Mid-State’s pinning ceremony, each graduating student selects a registered nurse who is a family member, friend or faculty member to join them on stage to place the nursing pin on the graduate during the ceremony, welcoming them into the profession of nursing.
While the graduate is being pinned a recorded message from the student is shared with the audience. The Nursing graduates also take a vow to always help those who are sick or injured.
Mid-State’s nursing pinning ceremony stems from a proud tradition reaching back to Florence Nightingale in the 1860s, the first nurse to receive a pin when she was awarded the Red Cross of St. George for her work in the Crimean War.
Nightingale in turn honored outstanding nursing graduates with a medal of excellence, which in time inspired a tradition in the US to award all graduates with a pin, beginning in 1880 with Bellevue Hospital School of Nursing in New York City. By 1916, pinning had become a common practice in schools of nursing throughout the United Kingdom and the United States.
The actual pin used in the nursing pinning ceremony is unique to each school, incorporating a design that symbolizes the school’s beliefs about nursing. The Mid-State pin has both a lamp and a book, the lamp being a traditional symbol of excellence that dates back to Nightingale, also known as the Lady with the Lamp.
Following are Mid-State’s fall 2023 Nursing graduates recognized in the Dec. 12 nursing pinning ceremony:
- Zimrije Alimi – Amherst
- Carissa Avery – Amherst
- Abigail Baehman – Eland
- Stacey Berdan – Stevens Point
- Amber Brockman – Wisconsin Rapids
- Melinda Brueggen – Arpin
- Hailey Budtke – Spencer
- Meghan Busa – Stevens Point
- Morgan Elliott – Wisconsin Rapids
- Briana Fox – Pittsville
- Samantha Fuehrer – Owen
- Baily Giebel – Strum
- Desirae Glodowski – Stevens Point
- Erika Grimm – Marshfield
- Aiden Gust – Wisconsin Rapids
- Taylor Heil – Marshfield
- Josie Jakel – Curtiss
- Valerie Kedrowski – Stevens Point
- Vanessa Kluck – Plover
- Nikole Knight – Wausau
- Lauren Koopman – Loyal
- Breiana Krise – Marshfield
- Jessica Kuchta – Marshfield
- Ashley LaBarge – Wisconsin Rapids
- Kathryn Larson – Wisconsin Rapids
- Breana Ligman – Custer
- Sara Luchini – Plover
- Michaela Lussenden – Stevens Point
- Teeghan Mahoney – Stevens Point
- Allecia Merritt – New Lisbon
- Mikayla Newlun – Elroy
- Katherine Nolan – Stevens Point
- Jalynn Piller – Wisconsin Rapids
- Rebecca Puent – Marshfield
- Kasandra Reyes – Stevens Point
- Cassie Roggenbauer – Marshfield
- Elizabeth Schindler – Wisconsin Rapids
- Brianne Schoechert – Wisconsin Rapids
- Halle Schueler – Tomah
- Teresa Story – Stevens Point
- Sabrina Strasser – Weston
- Brooke Wayerski – Pittsville
Feel free to contact us with questions and/or comments.