“Caps Off” to Inaugural LPN Cohort for Finishing First Semester Strong

NOVA’s Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN) program officially launched in October 2023, and eight students are poised to begin their second semester next week. Spring 2024 is an exciting time for this first LPN cohort, as it marks the beginning of hospital rotations after months of intense preliminary coursework and study.

To acknowledge their students’ official introduction to patient care while celebrating a strong first semester, program leaders hosted a special “capping” ceremony last month. The capping ceremony, like the nursing pinning ceremony, is steeped in tradition, though the two are distinct. Most people are familiar with pinning, which happens at the end of a nursing program and often happens in conjunction with an institution’s larger graduation ceremony. Capping, however, happens toward the beginning of a nurse’s journey, after they have completed initial educational requirements and are deemed ready to practice their skills in a clinical setting.

The capping ceremony, named for the iconic nurse’s cap, has, for the most part, gone by the wayside in the United States, as nurses no longer sport the traditional white caps worn in the early days of the nursing profession. Originally, the nurse’s cap was inspired by the habits of Catholic nuns and popularized by Florence Nightingale, an English nurse whose work during the Crimean War ultimately led to transformation and professionalization of nursing practice worldwide. As the profession expanded, with more and more women following in Nightingale’s footsteps to join the nursing ranks in the late 19th century, the nursing cap became a symbol all its own: one signifying responsibility, capability and empathy. Eventually, capping ceremonies developed, where new nursing students would be presented with their official caps before starting their first hospital rotations. Capping ceremonies became the early-program complement to pinning — a formal acknowledgment of the start of a nurse’s journey, as opposed to the conclusion of their training.

Today, the nursing profession employs men and women, who wear scrubs but not traditional caps, which were eventually deemed impractical and unhygienic. Nonetheless, the nursing cap still enjoys a certain celebrated status among nurses as a symbol of what the profession has always meant: compassion and care.

On December 11, 2023, eight LPN students received a pin in the shape of a traditional white nurse’s cap — a whimsical, practical, unisex take on the age-old symbol — to mark their transition from classroom work to real-world practice. Three program leaders — Katie Jennings, NOVA’s associate director of Allied Health programs; Amanda Wills, director of practical nursing; and JoAnna Collins, coordinator for the nurse aide/med aide programs and practical nursing faculty — presented the pins to the students, who couldn’t resist smiling, quietly acknowledging the responsibility inherent in their chosen profession.

And in a particularly moving moment, Jennings, Wills and Collins recited the Nightingale Pledge, which the students will recite at their pinning ceremony as licensed practical nurses.

So “caps off” to the eight outstanding LPN students for their hard work and dedication as they continue with their coursework and begin their clinicals this semester. And thank you to our LPN faculty who, in their commitment to educating future nursing professionals, embody the concluding principle of the Nightingale Pledge each and every day: devoting themselves to the welfare of those committed to their care.

Submitted by:
Lucy Williams, Writer and Editor, LYWilliams@nvcc.edu