CSUN Nursing Students Continue a Long-lasting Tradition in Pinning Ceremony

  • Family and friends cheer on the graduates as they enter the Grand Salon in the University Student Union at the Nurse Pinning Ceremony. Photo by Nestor Garcia

  • Twenty eight registered nurse graduates wait to be pinned and recite the Nightingale Pledge at CSUN on May 18. Photo by Nestor Garcia

  • Dr. Samira Moughrabi gives the opening speech to a crowded room at the pinning ceremony for students who graduated with a bachelor of science degree in nursing. Photo by Nestor Garcia

  • Dr. Moughaiba hugs Mayra Garcia de Vasquez after she received her BSN degree. Photo by Nestor Garcia

  • Dr. Marianne Hatta-Pollara presents the Outstanding Nursing Award to Sandra Buenrrostro. This is the first year the award was presented to a student. Photo by Nestor Garcia

Students graduating from California State University, Northridge participated in a pinning ceremony for registered nurses receiving their bachelor of science and nursing degrees on May 18 at the Grand Salon in the University Student Union .

The ceremony was sponsored by Valley Presbyterian Hospital. A slide show presenting the students’ different experiences with events during their program being shared by their families and a reception followed the event.

“The event was very memorable and inspiring,” said Samira Moughrabi, assistant director of the nursing department, “The pinning ceremony is an important aspect of our program where faculty, families and students celebrate each others’ successes and achievements.”

The nurse pinning ceremony is a tradition in which pins are presented to newly graduating nurses by their faculty as a symbolic welcome into the profession.  When receiving the pin, newly graduated nurses recite the Nightingale Pledge.

The pins – specifically designed for the CSUN nursing class in 1996 – have the image of an oil lamp. The image symbolizes the lit lamp used by Florence Nightingale, the founder of modern-day nursing.

Sandra Buenrrostro became the first graduate at CSUN to win the Outstanding Nursing Award.

“Throughout these past three years we lived, laughed and cried together,” Buenrrostro said. “I thank everyone for their support and most of all their friendship. I wouldn’t have been able to make it without them.”

The CSUN Nursing program offers an accelerated nursing program for students who hold a bachelor’s degree and want to earn the (BSN) that qualify to take the RN licensing exam in 15 months. Students entering programs with RNs can enhance their education through the BSN or the public health nursing certificate. Options include taking advantage of a partnership between CSUN and College of the Canyons which allows students to enroll in both nursing programs concurrently, taking courses for their BSN from CSUN while completing their associate degrees at College of the Canyons.