The Graduate Entry Pathway Pinning Ceremony is a proud milestone for nursing students and their families, like the one pictured here at last year’s event.
After an intense year of accelerated learning, 32 members of the Graduate School of Nursing’s Graduate Entry Pathway (GEP) Classes of 2014 and 2015 will take a brief pause from their busy schedules to be pinned as nurses. The annual GEP Pinning Ceremony is an interlude that marks the achievement of the educational credentials necessary to become registered nurses, as well as a prelude to their continuing studies towards master’s and, increasingly, doctoral degrees in nursing, culminating in careers in advanced practice nursing. The ceremony will kick off Convocation Week 2012 at UMass Chan on Tuesday, Sept. 11, at 6 p.m. in the Faculty Conference Room.
GEP students to be pinned, including five GEP to DNP (Doctor of Nursing Practice) Pathway members of the Class of 2015, all hold a bachelor’s degrees in a field other than nursing. Amond them are a journalist, a teacher, a social worker and a dentist, as well as students who have worked in different science and health care careers, and several recent college graduates. “Students bring their diverse experience, varied educational backgrounds and maturity to the table,” said Eileen Terrill, PhD, assistant professor of nursing and director of the GEP program.
The formal program will feature presentation of student awards, receipt of the custom-designed pin from GSN Dean Paulette Seymour Route, PhD, and the recitation of an oath, followed by a reception where students will share their pride with friends and family as well as faculty. “We’re very proud of our students,” Dr. Terrill said. “It is exciting to see them become colleagues who are professional nurses in their own right.”
