Thirty-two pre-licensure students received their pin, which is worn as part of a nurse’s uniform to identify the nursing school from which they graduated — and to convey they are educated, trained and experienced in their field. The pins are traditionally presented to new nursing graduates by the faculty as a symbolic welcome into the profession.
Chancellor Jane T. Upshaw addressed the students last week, celebrating the fact they were “no longer the student who needs to learn, but the nurse who will get to teach.” As these nursing graduates continue to be the best they can be, Upshaw encouraged them to pay their successes forward with their bedside practice and by mentoring those who enter the profession after them.
Nursing graduates Katie Clark and Katie Johnson both spoke of the rigorous nursing school curriculum that they likened to a “two-year boot camp” in which everyone became so close they were like a family.
The keynote address was given by Joy Lauerer, USCB nursing instructor. She told the story of what a true nurse really is. “A woman who was about to be rolled into the operating room for a mastectomy was alone, crying, and scared. The nurse asked her to share her fears. The patient said she was overcome by thoughts that the cancer had metastasized into the lymph nodes and chemotherapy would be inevitable. The nurse said, ‘Thoughts are powerful things, so let’s think that your body is fighting this; that you will leave this surgery very strong.’ The woman felt at peace.” That woman was Joy Lauerer.
Awards were presented to top students: Palmetto Gold Nursing Award: Cassi Kilpatrick, USCB Nursing Program Award: Amanda Henry, and Nursing Program Clinical Award: Kathryn Byrd.
USCB CELEBRATES LARGEST COMMENCEMENT CEREMONY
On a picturesque Lowcountry evening on April 27, USCB celebrated the largest graduating class of 289 students, alongside more than 2,500 family members and friends who cheered them on eagerly. Before the ceremony, Chancellor Jane Upshaw presented the first ever autographed prints of Allen Campbell’s artwork depicting the University of South Carolina Beaufort — titled “One University, Two Campuses” to the honorary degree recipients, Emory Shaw Campbell and Colden Rhind Battey Jr.
