USU Graduate School of Nursing Holds 11 Commencement Ceremonies
By Ian Neligh
Large crowds and sitting together for prolonged periods of time are, at least for the moment, a thing of the past.
Faced with the daunting challenge of holding graduation under COVID-19 restrictions, the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences Daniel K. Inouye Graduate School of Nursing split this year’s event into multiple remote ceremonies held at locations across the country.
In this way, the school lowered the danger of infection, while allowing students to celebrate their achievements with friends and family.
“Given the constraints of COVID, the faculty and staff worked hard to create a meaningful graduation experience for students and their families,” said Graduate School of Nursing Dean and Professor Carol A. Romano, Ph.D.
The school divided its traditional graduation ceremony into 11 unique events. Last year’s graduation was held remotely out of necessity. This year’s ceremonies, which included 70 students, occurred the week of May 3 and included locations such as Colorado Springs, Colo., San Diego, Calif., Keesler Air Force Base, Miss., and Fort Bragg, N.C.
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| Class of 2021 students and faculty from USU's Graduate School of Nursing located in the San Antonio, Texas, area, celebrated Commencement in a regional ceremony this year because of pandemic restrictions. (Courtesy photo) |
“We are proud of all of our graduates and of the opportunity for them to celebrate in person the commencement of their new advanced military nursing roles,” Romano said. “The 11 remote graduations at the students’ clinical site provided an appropriate means for families to participate and to address one of the pandemic challenges.”
Commandant and Student Affairs Dean Army Col. Craig Budinich, Ph.D., said the school came upon the idea of splitting up the graduations several months back when he sent out a survey to the students to get a feel for their graduation priorities.
“When it was all said and done, the students, by a supermajority, desired to have their families present,” Budinich said, adding the only way that could be made to happen was to have site-specific events.
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| Angela Johansen, the USU program student coordinator at Womack Army Medical Center at Fort Bragg, N.C., baked this cake for the Fort Bragg and Camp Lejeune USU Doctor of Nursing Practice graduates. (Photo courtesy of Angela Johansen) |
“There are many reasons for people to come together for an in-person, on-campus graduation: to celebrate this milestone together, and to be ‘seen’. If the GSN holds graduations remotely every year, people might forget that the Graduate School of Nursing exists,” Seibert said. “So it is not in our best interests, long term, to always be missing from the ceremony.”
Seibert said celebrating graduation in a big way, such as sitting in the Daughters of the American Revolution Constitution Hall, listening to the Marine Corps Band, and enjoying the colors and pageantry of a military graduation, as was done prior to the pandemic, is a wonderful way to celebrate years of hard work.
This year, hosting separate graduation events was a fantastic opportunity to celebrate in person, but with smaller groups. “We hope that something approaching normal will happen next year.”
Seibert said there were a lot of logistics needed to make it happen, but said it was fun being able to commemorate with the students and their families.
“I must say that the GSN leadership worked very well with clinical site directors and the Services to ensure a good product,” Budinich added. “The ceremonies were first-class and intimate, a testimony to the resilience and adaptability of the GSN faculty, staff, and students.”
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| From left to right: Air Force Lt. Col. Theodore Szerszenski, Capt. Craig Schadewald, Capt. Precious Arnette, and Maj. Cassie Foss celebrated their Uniformed Services University Graduate School of Nursing graduation ceremony on May 4 at Keesler Air Force Base, Biloxi, Miss. (Courtesy Photo) |
