Friends and family recently gathered to honor and celebrate Eleanor Mann School of Nursing students at the fall white coat ceremony.
The event marks the transition from learning solely in classrooms to learning in the clinical setting for nursing students in the first semester of their junior year.
During the Oct. 4 ceremony, students received their white coats and a lapel pin that symbolizes their intention to strive for excellence in the nursing profession. Each student was cloaked by a member of the nursing school faculty.
Students also recited an oath before family members, school leadership, and their peers. The oath signified their willingness to elevate the value of humanism as the core of healthcare.
From left, Patrick Millwee, Rivers Nicholas, Dean Kate Mamiseishvili, and Haleigh Millwee.
At this year’s event, the inaugural Rebecca ‘Bke’ Thompson Millwee Endowed Scholarship in Nursing was awarded to Rivers Nicholas, a senior nursing student.
The endowed scholarship honors the life and legacy of Rebecca ‘Bke’ Thompson Millwee, a nurse, wife, and mother whose professional career exemplified servant leadership as she intentionally cared for patients.
“Bke loved people, and she loved nursing. She was a patient advocate and a compassionate caregiver,” Bke’s husband, Patrick Millwee, said. “As her father encouraged her to consider becoming a doctor instead, she held firm in her desire to care for patients as a nurse. She loved people and wanted to deliver compassionate care and healing as only a nurse can.”
Nicholas received the scholarship for her commitment to compassionate care, curiosity for continued learning, and leadership qualities, as described by her peers. Patrick Millwee and his daughter, Haleigh, presented Nicholas with a certificate and a keepsake award, an art piece hand-selected by their family.
The white coat ceremony has been a rite of passage for College of Education and Health Professions nursing students since 2014. The first White Coat Ceremony was held in 1993 at Columbia University, and it has since been performed at over 450 schools of nursing nationwide with the help of the Gold Foundation.
The ceremony is a much-anticipated milestone.
