The first class of Purchase-based Manhattanville College nursing students earned more than their stripes this week. They earned official pins marking their entry into the nursing profession during a year when a worldwide pandemic challenged them to give their all.
Eleven students were honored in a Pinning and Award Ceremony that celebrated their courage over the last year. Interim President Louise Feroe, Dean Debra Simons and Associate Dean Orhan Hakli commended the students for their courage and dedication in joining the ranks of health care professionals during the Covid-19 pandemic.
“”¦When most of us could not even go outside during this pandemic, these brave individuals said that they want to go to hospitals, to be trained to become nurses and help the sick,” said Hakli.
The Pinning Ceremony, a tradition dating back to the 1880s, was inspired by Florence Nightingale who blazed the trail for nurses on the frontlines.
Titsa Fotopulos Pelzman, a graduate from the Class of 1949 and the original Manhattanville College School of Nursing was present for the ceremony.
Anne Brandon, Carolyn Brandt, Jennie Chacon, Donna Nicole Crepault, Emily Estrella, Maria Estupian, MaryKate Dichiara, Alicia Gomes, Saquiba Hassan, Sara Hios and Amanda Peters were recognized for being part of the first cohort to graduate in the college”™s program. Special awards were given to Emily Estrella, Sara Hios, Donna Nicole Crepault and MaryKate Dichiara.
In her closing remarks, Simons reminded the new nurse practitioners that the world “hungers for new ideas and solutions,” and that “your patients and the world are waiting for you.”
