Profession

Pinning

The pinning ceremony for nursing is separate from graduation, and is designed to highlight the accomplishments of the graduates from the nursing program in a way that you can't do at graduation'. The ceremony actually dated back to 1855, when Florence Nightingale was awarded the Red Cross of St. George by Queen Victoria in recognition for her valuable care of the injured during the Crimean War. She made a tradition of presenting a medal of excellence to the best and brightest graduates from her program, and by 1916, the practice of pinning new graduates had become common, a rite of passage signifying that a student has become a practitioner. Each nursing program had its own personalized pin. There would be a welcome from the head of the nursing program, and there would be additional remarks from the head of the school as well as a speaker chosen by the school.

After the speeches, there would be awards handed out (I had been told to expect one and prepare a few remarks about why I had entered the program) and finally, there would be the pinning. Each of us would be called up, and we all would read a statement (a maximum of a hundred words, we were warned) thanking someone who had meant the most to us during our studies, and the pin would be placed on our uniforms, the white cap on our heads. Although it wasn't standard in these days, our school preferred for us to wear a traditional white nurse's uniform: skirt or pants, a white blouse, sturdy white shoes. Not everybody liked them, but I did. In the hospital after the kidnapping attempt in high school, the nurses had all worn the white uniforms, and their crisp confidence had been really reassuring. After all the students were pinned, we'd recite a version of the Nightingale Pledge, followed by some mingling and refreshments. I'd invited my family, but my parents weren't going to be in the country, Deri was working late on a project that would culminate in her reward of a coveted vice-presidency at the company. Grandpa Damian was also out of the country, in Kenya, doing something about a new Stark facility. Other people also had commitments. But Uncles Tony, Bucky, and Steve, Grandma Alex, Alfred, and Aunts Emma and Amy had said that they'd be there for me.   

The ceremony was two days before Thanksgiving, and it would be the first time I met most of my classmates. The thing about doing the coursework online is that face-to-face meetings are rare; I'd only met a few of my fellow students in this program during the internships. At the conference room on campus, where I'd been only a handful of times and had to find on a map, the nursing students grouped together outside and went in together, sitting in a block. The head of the nursing program, a no-nonsense woman, got up and greeted everybody, addressing a few remarks to us congratulating us on being so close to the finish line. There would be graduation in December, which I wasn't so certain I wanted to attend since this ceremony was the heart of the experience, and we would be sitting the licensing exam in early January. I had worked hard, studying through my internships, and felt ready to take them now. Then a large man got up; he wore a black suit, over which he wore the blood-red tabard with a silver cross, the emblem of the Knights Hospitaller, who owned the facilities for the medical school on this campus and provided most of its employees.

"Good evening. Thank you for coming to this important ceremony for our graduating nurses. I am Emmanuel de Rohan, a Knight of the Order of St. John, more familiarly known as the Knights Hospitaller," he said, with a trace of a Spanish accent. "We are an ancient order, formed during the great monastic reform of the 11th century, with the purpose of providing care for sick or injured pilgrims coming to the Holy Lands. During the Crusades, we became a militant order. We have since seen the conflict between trying to save souls and bodies while at the same time taking up the sword on the field of battle, and have reverted to our original mission. In these days, we are only loosely affiliated with the Catholic Church, preferring to provide care to our patients regardless of religious beliefs or affiliations; we are recognized by the church, and our Grand Master is appointed by the church, but this is a ceremonial leadership position. One of the approaches we have taken is to fund the training of medical professionals, sending them out into the wider community, fulfilling many different purposes. Many of our graduates will be taking up positions in hospitals, clinics, and doctors offices; more will be pursuing further education. Some will become administrators; who knows what nurses need more than another nurse? Other nurses will pursue careers in medical education, the legal profession, or as a member of crisis teams. Our graduates have a huge variety of choices unimaginable to those who founded the order: working in mental health facilities, prisons, neo-natal units, community outreach centers, schools.