On Saturday, December 12, Concordia University Ann Arbor School of Nursing celebrated the Pinning Ceremony for the Zeta Class, the fifth cohort to graduate from CUAA's school of nursing.
The Zeta Class pinning ceremony was originally planned to be celebrated in person with a socially-distant ceremony in the Chapel of the Holy Trinity, but was shifted to a virtual format when the stay-at-home restrictions were extended earlier in the week.
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 Zeta class award recipients.
Excellence Award: Katie Farley (’20)
Presented by Anita Simmons
The award I am giving today is for a student who exemplifies excellence.
Excellence is one of our program’s cornerstone virtues. It is defined as the demonstration of actions and character that show merit or greatness that are above the expected level. The excellence award is for a nursing student who demonstrated advanced problem-solving skills in theory and clinical practicum courses, as well as a commitment to success in complex situations.
An excellent student does not cut corners. An excellent student gives more, even when the task at hand could be called “good enough.” An excellent student enters a situation being as prepared as possible for the “what ifs.” The student we are recognizing today has demonstrated excellence through her academic work, her clinical work, her bedside manner with her patients, her initiative in her learning, her selfless concern for her fellow classmates and more.
When gathering information for this award from all the nursing staff, it was said of this student that she is a team player- always ready to pitch in and help where needed. She always came to class prepared and ready to participate. She utilized knowledge gained from previous courses to plan and execute excellent patient care. She was a great listener to her patients, attentive to their needs.
I witnessed this student, first hand, put her own needs behind the needs of a struggling classmate, knowing there was a potential that it could negatively impact herself. This was a no-brainer to her; she puts others first.
Here is another example of this student’s excellence-even though I know it will give away our honoree! Due to COVID, this group of graduates, sadly, had to go through all of the summer courses virtually- including OB. When fall semester began, this student was assigned to work on an OB unit for her preceptorship. Having missed any hands on experience, she took it upon herself to seek out her own practice opportunity in order to feel better prepared to care for the mothers and babies and to make the most out of her time on the OB unit. She took it upon herself to schedule practice time with an OB instructor in our sim lab before her preceptorship began. What an example of initiative- and excellence!
For these reasons and more, it is my honor to present the Excellence award to Katie Farley.
Previous Excellence Awardees:
Tammy Delane (Omega class, Spring 2020)
Ilona Rozina (Delta class, Fall 2019)
Courtney Deyarmond (Beta class, Spring 2019)
Desiree Reyes (Alpha class, Fall 2018)
Learn more about Concordia’s School of Nursing.
— Rachel Thoms served on Concordia University's Strategic Communications team from 2015-2022. Any inquiries about this story can be sent to news@cuaa.edu.
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