Current Students

The Lighting the Lamp Ceremony formally recognizes students entry into the upper division nursing major at the Edson College of Nursing and Health Innovation. Entry to the upper division includes those students choosing the traditional pre-licensure pathway.

This ceremony welcomes students to their chosen profession, celebrate the value of a university education, involve family members, and impress upon all in attendance the significance of the commitment each student is making.

Students participating in the ceremony receive a charge from the Dean to aspire to excellence in their academic and practice activities. Each student receives a pin specific to the ceremony that pictures a lamp, which is representative of the lamp carried by Florence Nightingale. This lamp also reflects the trust placed in nursing by society. Students continue to wear the pin as part of their nursing student uniform as a reminder of the commitment they have made.

Students and all nurses in the audience – faculty and others – join to recite the pledge.

This ceremony, with all of its constituent parts, marks the inclusion of students in the greater community of professional nursing.