{"id":28698,"date":"2020-05-08T12:00:24","date_gmt":"2020-05-08T17:00:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/?p=28698"},"modified":"2020-05-08T11:09:48","modified_gmt":"2020-05-08T16:09:48","slug":"apsu-school-of-nursing-hosts-drive-thru-pinning-ceremony","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/2020\/05\/08\/apsu-school-of-nursing-hosts-drive-thru-pinning-ceremony\/","title":{"rendered":"APSU School of Nursing hosts drive-thru pinning ceremony"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"AustinClarksville, TN<\/strong> – The Austin Peay State University (APSU) campus has remained quiet for the last two months, with the school going fully online in response to the coronavirus pandemic, but on Thursday afternoon, May 7th, 2020, the sounds of cheers, honking horns and pop music echoed out of the McCord Parking Lot.<\/p>\n

\"Austin<\/a>

Austin Peay State University Nursing faculty congratulate graduates. (APSU)<\/p><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

There, beneath red tents decorated with balloons, members of APSU\u2019s School Nursing stood \u2013 six feet apart and wearing masks \u2013 cheering on their 2020 graduates.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is our new COVID-19 pinning ceremony, and we\u2019re excited,\u201d Dr. Eve Rice, interim director of the School of Nursing, said. \u201cIt\u2019s a drive-thru ceremony, and we have two lines with tables. We made homemade masks, and the pin is pinned on the mask.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pinning ceremonies, which were established more than 100 years ago by Florence Nightingale, the founder of modern nursing, are symbolic events that welcome recent graduates into their new profession.<\/p>\n

Austin Peay State University has hosted a ceremony each year for decades, and the School of Nursing\u2019s faculty made sure the current pandemic didn\u2019t break that tradition this year.<\/p>\n

\"Austin<\/a>

Austin Peay State University Nursing Graduates received a mask with the pin. (APSU)<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cI think it was really nice that they went out of their way to do something for us when we couldn\u2019t have a traditional ceremony,\u201d Dakota Collins said through the window of a red Mini Cooper. She, like several other graduates, acknowledged that Thursday\u2019s ceremony carried a little extra meaning because she was preparing to join the front lines in fight against COVID-19 Coronavirus.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m nervous but I feel prepared,\u201d she said. \u201cI feel our professors did a really good job of preparing us for what we\u2019re walking into now.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

[470center]<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The mood of the outdoor, drive-by ceremony, however, remained upbeat. Faculty members danced and cheered to the music, waving large signs with messages like, \u201cYou did it!\u201d and \u201cConquered COVID!\u201d APSU President Alisa White, wearing a protective mask, also attended, standing at a safe distance to shout her congratulations at the graduates.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is definitely out of the norm, which is very School of Nursing style,\u201d Elizabeth Cunningham, a nursing graduate, said. \u201cI wouldn\u2019t expect anything different, and it still gives us the opportunity to participate.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Austin<\/a>

Austin Peay State University Nursing faculty. (APSU)<\/p><\/div>\n

Two cars ahead of her in the line, student Ashley Douglas received her mask and pin.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s interesting, that\u2019s for sure,\u201d she said. \u201cYou won\u2019t forget it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Before driving off, Douglas was asked if she had any concerns about working as a nurse during a pandemic. She shook her head as if to dismiss the question.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m ready,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019m excited.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Clarksville, TN – The Austin Peay State University (APSU) campus has remained quiet for the last two months, with the school going fully online in response to the coronavirus pandemic, but on Thursday afternoon, May 7th, 2020, the sounds of cheers, honking horns and pop music echoed out of the McCord Parking Lot.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[5],"tags":[22711,23,10982,11642,4058,34719,262,512,825,34581,34634,34716,34718,34473,34705,34715,34717,34642,34652],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4xGYI-7sS","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28698"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28698"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28698\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28699,"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28698\/revisions\/28699"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28698"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28698"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28698"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}