First-Year Nursing Students Attend Dedication Ceremony
For the first time in three years, Kettering College’s nursing students gathered for the time-honored tradition of a nursing dedication ceremony. The ceremony signifies the importance of entering the profession of nursing. As first-year nursing students say the pledge and light the lamp, they are dedicating themselves to the people they will serve.
Dr. Paula Reams, PhD, Dean of Nursing, pointed out the first two years of not gathering were due to COVID-19, and last year the event was canceled due to a snowstorm. This was also the first nursing dedication ceremony to include our inaugural cohort of students in the recently created accelerated A-BSN track.
Dr. Reams started the night with a prayer and moved on to present a Nightingale Award, which she explained, “…celebrates the hope that the Kettering College division of nursing will never cease to mold, nurture, motivate, inspire, and produce nurses who can rise to ideals of our first director, Anna May Vaughan and ‘the lady with the lamp,’ Florence Nightingale.”
Dr. Holly Hall, a Kettering College alumna, received the award. She has been recognized for her 30 years of service in nursing and for her leadership and policy development as well as her commitment to servant leadership and its tenants. Dr. Hall’s definition of servant leadership in nursing is: “A nurse servant leader is a person who leads with moral authority, vision, and empowers others personally and professionally. He/she is a systems thinker who is competent, compassionate, and a skilled communicator and collaborator.”
The speaker at the nurse dedication ceremony was Dr. Jennifer Shull, the system chief nursing executive for Kettering Health. She thanked students for answering the sacred call to nursing, reminding them, “This amazing profession allows us to be a part of the entire human experience at the beginning of life, during the uncertain and stressful times, and to be present when someone takes their last breath.”
“God has chosen you to be the beacon of hope and healing for those he has sent to you to care for.”
-Dr. Jennifer Shull, MHA, BSN, RN, System Chief Nursing Executive
She encouraged students to hold onto their “Why” for going into nursing, especially on challenging days. She noted that nursing is a career of lifelong learning and bringing hope to patients. She advised students to think of the stethoscope as an instrument of connection to listen to patients and serve them to heal their mind, body, and spirit.
She concluded by reminding the nursing student, “God has chosen you to be the beacon of hope and healing for those he has sent to you to care for.”
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