FSC Trustee Ann Blanton Edwards

See more photos from the ceremony on Flickr

LAKELAND (April 29, 2010) -- Bearing lamps and reciting the Florence Nightingale pledge, 21 outstanding graduates of the College's bachelor of science in nursing program were "pinned" in a ceremony in the Annie Pfeiffer Chapel. The students were congratulated by FSC Trustee Ann Blanton Edwards, a distinguished nurse and nurse educator who told the graduates how proud her mother and father would have been of their accomplishments. Mrs. Edwards's mother, the late Alberta Blanton and beloved Lakeland philanthropist, provided the funds for the state-of-the-art Joe K. & Alberta Blanton Nursing Building that opened this past fall.

Upon entrance into practice as a Registered Nurse, it is tradition for new nurses to receive the nursing pin. Within the pin is a symbol of a lamp, referred to in the nursing community as the "Florence Nightingale Lamp."

During the ceremony, graduate Katrina O'Connor reflected on her student experience, thanking the FSC nursing faculty for their invaluable support. Turning to her classmates, she said, "When you are a mentor of a student someday, remember where you started."

Another graduate, Charlene Mohamed, received the "Compassionate Care Award."