Nursing students receive their caps and pins


August 7, 2012

Ben Hill-Irwin Campus Nurses
Front row seated (L-R): Shelly Mixon, Holly Smith, Cynthia Murphy, Katrina Howard, Andrea Phillips, Cynthia Mathis, Deweese Minshew; Standing: Instructors Pamela Huffstuttler, Charlene Lindsey, Students Angela Robitzsch, Joni Boone, Taylor Walker, Chad Ryan, Courtney Stovall, Rebeckah Batten, Roseanna Black, and Instructors Carolyn Slade and Jessica Lyons.

Fitzgerald, GA— Wiregrass Georgia Technical College practical nursing students on the Ben Hill–Irwin Campus received their nursing caps and pins during a ceremony held in the Charles Harris Learning Center Auditorium Thursday, July 26. These 16 students have been in the WGTC practical nursing program 18 months and will graduate on August 9.

Female students earn their nursing cap and male students earn their nursing pin after reaching a certain level in their academic and clinical hours. The nurse’s cap and pin are part of the nurse’s uniform and are symbolic as a badge of office and achievement and a great honor to receive. Each school of nursing has designed a cap for their students with colored bands signifying the students’ college and status.

This pinning ceremony was also a time for the students to honor and remember a classmate. On the weekend prior to the class’s first nursing final exam, practical nursing student Robert “Rob” Bellinger tragically lost his life in an automobile accident. During the pinning ceremony, they presented his parents, his wife, and two young daughters with the pin and lamp that Rob would have received. Instructor Carolyn Slade noted “These students were just beginning to become a class and bond when this young man was tragically killed in an automobile accident. The class was unlike other classes from then on; they were subdued, even though they had their fun, and studied hard. They never forgot Rob and spoke of him weekly if not daily.” “There is no question that Rob will always be a part of each of us, now and always, as we care for our patients because he has taken up residence in each of our hearts.,” (Quotes taken from an excerpt of the speech given that evening.)

Bellinger Family
Bellinger Family

Students receiving their nurse’s cap or pin included Katrina Howard Jones, Kimberly Josey, Cynthia Mathis, and Nicholas “Chad” Ryan of Ben Hill County; Roseanna Black, Stephen Duke, Shelly Mixon, Andrea Phillips, and Angela Robitzsch of Irwin County; Deweese Minshew of Coffee County; Cynthia Murphy of Wilcox County; Rebeckah Batten, Holly Smith and Taylor Walker of Tift County; Joni Boone of Telfair County; and Courtney Stovall of Berrien County.