Northwest-Shoals Community College Nursing Program honored 60 registered nursing graduates at its pinning ceremony May 12.

Director of Nursing Shelia Smith and several members of the faculty and students participated in the ceremony that included presentation of the pins, the Nightingale Pledge and the lighting of the lamp. The symbolic tradition of the nursing pin, and the ceremonial pinning, originated in the 1860s at the Nightingale School of Nursing Hospital in London. The nursing pin the graduates receive is a type of badge, awarded by the program’s faculty as a symbolic welcome into the profession.

The pinning participants included:

• Michelle Lynn Adams, Phil Campbell
• Heather Rose Orrick, Phil Campbell
• Cassidy Renae Humphres, Red Bay
• Shelby Brooke Cox, Russellville
• Caroline Catherine Hollimon, Russellville
• Erin Kathleen Marsh, Russellville
• Susanna Desideria McCalpin, Russellville
• Nicole M. Ross, Russellville