On May 25, Hostos Community College celebrated its Registered Nursing (RN) program and Licensed Practical Nursing (LPN) certificate graduates during the Spring 2022 nursing pinning ceremony.
The ceremony was held in person for graduates and faculty members, and live streamed for graduates’ loved ones and supporters to tune in and cheer.
Master of Ceremony Dr. Edward King, Nursing Coordinator, led the annual ceremony, celebrating 14 LPN graduates and 17 RN graduates—among them the first H.E.R.O high school student to graduate from Hostos RN program, Amar Alsaidi. President Daisy Cocco De Filippis; Dr. Shiang-Kwei Wang, Provost; and Dr. Charles Drago, Chair of Allied Health; and Dr. Edward King each provided words of praise, wisdom, and well wishes to the graduates. Jacquelyn N. Ojeda, RN Class President of 2022, and Annabelle S. Jimenez, LPN Class President of 2022, also presented touching speeches reflecting on their journeys through their respective programs and offered words of encouragement to their peers.
Faculty members conferred Gold, Silver, Bronze, and Florence Nightingale awards to students for their notable work and commitment. Additionally, Professor Hamide Laucer presented one graduate from each program with a DAISY Award for Extraordinary Nursing Students, making Hostos the first-ever community college to confer the prestigious recognition to its nursing students. Daisy is an acronym for Diseases Attacking Immune System, and the award was established by the Barnes family in 1999 in remembrance of Patrick Barnes who died of Idiopathic Thrombocytopenic Purpura. The DAISY Award for Extraordinary Nursing Students was created to honor nursing students in a clinical setting for the extraordinary care and compassion that they show to patients and their families. Students who were nominated for the award received a special DAISY Award pin; Annabelle Jimenez and Christopher Wright were named the first-ever Daisy Award recipients at Hostos Community College.
Then the moment everyone had been waiting for arrived: Faculty members presented the LPN and RN graduates with their hard-earned pins, and after a candle lighting ceremony led by Dr. Ronette Shaw, Yusuf Alim (RN Class of 2022) and Jermaine Bulgin (LPN Class of 2022) led their cohorts in the recitation of the Florence Nightingale Pledge and Practical Nurses’ Pledge.
Congratulations to Hostos Class of 2022 LPN and RN graduates. We salute you!
Watch the Spring 2022 RN/LPN pinning ceremony
here.