White Coat Ceremony marks MC nursing students’ transition to clinical care

By participating in the MC School of Nursing's White Coat Ceremony, students promise to uphold the standards of professional nursing practice with pride and diligence.

The School of Nursing at Mississippi College will usher first-semester students into clinical practice during its White Coat Ceremony at 5 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 3, in Anderson Hall on the second floor of the B.C. Rogers Student Center.

The coats are emblematic of those who have met all of the requirements to becoming nursing students and are eligible to celebrate their entrance into patient care.

Mary Ellen Stewart, chair of the Department of Public Health and the School of Nursing’s Distinguished Alumnus of the Year, will serve as guest speaker.

The White Coat Ceremony is esteemed in nursing as a powerful reminder of the trust placed in future nurses and the sacred responsibility they have to provide compassionate, competent care to all patients.

By participating in the White Coat Ceremony, School of Nursing students promise to uphold the standards of professional nursing practice with pride and diligence and to work with others in mutual cooperation for the improvement of healthcare services.

Following Stewart’s address, participants will ascend to the stage in pairs, where a fourth-semester nursing student will help them into their new coats. The students and all healthcare professionals in attendance will then receive a “Blessing of the Hands.” The blessing will ask for God’s protection, guidance and wisdom as the students move into the profession of nursing.

After receiving their coat and blessing, the students will receive a pocket-sized New Testament from the Gideons International as a reminder of their call to Christian caring. After being individually recognized, the first-semester students will collectively recite the MC School of Nursing creed.

All family and friends of first-semester School of Nursing students are invited to the ceremony. For more information, email Callie Tate at ctate@mc.edu.