School of Nursing Prepares to Graduate Nurses

School of Nursing Prepares to Graduate NursesThis spring, the first graduates from CSUSM's Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) program will receive their degrees. Founded in fall 2006 with 44 students, today the School of Nursing has 550 students, including pre-nursing and the new entry-level baccalaureate program. On Friday, May 15, at 6:00 p.m. the first cohort of 120 CSUSM graduating nursing students will participate in a pinning ceremony at The Island Club, Naval Air Station North Island, San Diego. A pinning ceremony is a symbolic welcoming of newly graduated nurses into the nursing profession. The new nurses will be presented with nursing pins by the faculty of the nursing school.Today nurses do not wear their traditional whites and nursing cap in the health care environment. They do, however, proudly wear their nursing school pin and the name tag that clearly states that they are an RN or registered nurse, which distinguishes them from all other health care professionals and paraprofessionals.At this special ceremony given for the graduating nursing students, family and friends, the students get to dedicate their nursing pin. Frequently they dedicate them to family members who helped them along their journey, to a close friend, or to the spiritual force that guided them.The second cohort of 39 Accelerated BSN students will also graduate this spring. They will participate in commencement this May and have a separate pinning ceremony on Sunday, May 17, at 12:00 p.m. on the Kellogg Library Plaza.