On Saturday, December 18, Concordia University Ann Arbor Ronald and Marvel Jones School of Nursing celebrated the Pinning Ceremony for the Epsilon Class, the seventh cohort to graduate from CUAA's bachelor of science in nursing program.
The Epsilon Class pinning ceremony was celebrated in The Chapel of the Holy Trinity at Concordia University Ann Arbor.
In addition to the pinning ceremony, the Epsilon class will celebrate the completion of their degree with an in-person commencement ceremony on Sunday, December 19 at at 2 p.m.
Each semester, Concordia’s nursing faculty and staff nominate students from the graduating cohort who best represent the core values of the nursing program: service, excellence, compassion, and integrity. An additional award, the Nightingale Award, was created as a tribute to Florence Nightingale who embodied nursing as her life’s vocation. The recipient of this award exemplifies that same character and calling.
View all of the Epsilon Class award recipients.
Compassion Award: Bernard Kasanda (’21)
I chose a verse that I feel embodies the definition of compassion.
Finally, all of you, have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind (1 Peter 3:8).
The student getting this award demonstrates these behaviors to his fellow students, patients, faculty, and staff.
This student has shown brotherly love to his fellow students by being supportive, encouraging, and just a pleasant guy to be around. He’s displayed a humble mind in his education. He’s naturally curious and enjoys learning. Humble, because he owns his struggles by admitting when he doesn’t know something. This is a very important quality in nursing. Because of this, I know he will be a safe nurse.
This student has shown a tender heart to his patients.
During community health clinicals in Alaska this past summer, students had the opportunity to interact with the homeless population. This student’s instructor noticed he spoke to them like he speaks to everyone else. Because of this, they felt comfortable with him and were drawn to him.
During a clinical rotation at the hospital this student observed a patient that he was not assigned to having respiratory issues which were resulting in sheer panic for the patient. Seeing the situation and that help was on the way, this student went to the patient’s bedside offering her reassurance and support until the situation was resolved.
This past semester this student displayed a great concern for how to interact with the family members of his critically ill patients. He was so concerned that he asked his preceptor to role-play with him pretending to be family members asking questions about the patient. That way, he could practice and become comfortable with that skill. It was important to him to be able to speak with family members and patients so they would be confident in the care the patient was receiving. His preceptor told me that patient family members often told her that he’s going to make a great nurse.
This student, that I’m proud to call a fellow Concordia alumnus, is Bernard Kasanda.
Previous Compassion Awardees:
Rachel Johnstone (Gamma class, Spring 2021)
Olivia Perry (Zeta class, Fall 2020)
Whitney Rivera (Omega class, Spring 2020)
Tommy Thompson (Delta class, Fall 2019)
Sherrie Anderson (Beta class, Spring 2019)
Maria Lulgjuraj (Alpha class, Fall 2018)
Learn more about Concordia University Ann Arbor’s Ronald and Marvel Jones School of Nursing.
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