PIQUA — Edison State Community College honored its most recent nursing graduates, Dec. 15, with a pinning ceremony at the Piqua campus.

During the pinning ceremony, the graduate nurse is presented to family and friends as a professional who is about to practice nursing, and the graduate is usually “pinned” by the faculty members who have worked with the students throughout their course of study. Each school has a unique pin, which serves as a symbol of the successful completion of a rigorous curriculum, which prepares its graduates to administer to the sick and injured and promote health through the practice of nursing.

Marvella Fletcher, Edison State Board of Trustee member, provided opening remarks.

Registered Nurse Jean Heath, an alumna of Edison State, served as the ceremony’s guest speaker. Heath reflected upon her time as a student and how the education she received helped catapult her career in nursing.

“It didn’t take me long to realize that the foundation and the education that I got in this building from these teachers and this program gave me inner strength and self-confidence,” said Heath. “It also gave me the skills needed to perform my job. My advice to all of you is to find your path. Your leadership skills and the skills that you learn along the way will get better, but what I want you never to forget is where you came from and where you started, because I never did.”

Local graduates included Nicole Terwilliger, of Anna; Elizabeth Fortkamp, of Chickesaw; Kylie Keener, of Maplewood; Kaitlyn Kerrigan and Deborah Parker, of Sidney; and Diana Sanati, of Versailles