Nursing Graduates Receive Pin

May 21, 2001

Twenty-six Oklahoma Baptist University graduates received OBU's official nursing pin during the school of nursing pinning ceremony for the class of 2001, Friday, May 18.

The pinning ceremony is a ritual celebrating the transition from the role of student to the role of nurse, explained Dr. Lana Bolhouse, dean of the school of nursing, in her introduction to family, friends and guests of the graduates.

"The symbol of that transition is the OBU nursing pin," Bolhouse said.

The pin, designed by OBU nursing program's first graduating class in 1956, features a white cross in the center. The pin is unique to OBU graduates.

The keynote speaker for the ceremony, Connie Burton, missionary nurse in Kenya and 1977 OBU nursing graduate, told the graduating seniors to view nursing as a calling, not a job.

"God's called each one of us to serve," she said. "You've chosen to do that through nursing."

She described the events after the 1998 bombing of the American embassy in Nairobi, in which she was brought in as an emergency volunteer. She could sense death all around, she said.

"If my nursing had been just a job, I don't think I would have stayed," she said.

She also advised the graduates to view people as treasure and to live life with wonder.

"Our culture has a phrase that epitomizes the opposite of wonder," she said. "'Been there done that.' That is a saying of people saturated with technology and experience but totally devoid of wonder."

Wonder is not to be confused with a shallow thinking, she said.

"Look for wonder in your everyday lives," she said. "It won't always be there unless you look for it."

Graduating seniors who received the pin include: Jennifer Dawn Atterbury, Midwest City; Lisa Elaine Marie Brown, Oklahoma City; Lisa Gail Brown, Midwest City; Diana Lynn Carper, Shawnee; Julie Ann Coppedge, Albuquerque, N.M.; Jennifer Ann Crane, Shawnee; Kimberly Michelle Crouch, Woodland Park, Colo.; Senen DeCastro Dadulo, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic; Allison Renee Ford, St. Charles, Mo.; Cassidy Suzanne Glenn, Arlington, Texas; Andrea Elizabeth Graf, Melaka, Malaysia; Jackie Lynn Haney, Meeker; Aaron Matthew Hines, Rogers, Ark.; Seong G. Jin, Jinju South Korea; Stacy Lynn Katterhenry, Tulsa; Andrea Marie Lucas, Claremore; Jennifer Ann McPherson, Allen, Texas; Cherri Lynne Moore, Shawnee; Nichole Hopkins Morris, Shawnee (second degree); Jennifer Jo Nomura, Owasso; Michael Robert Stevenson, New Ulm, Minn.; Cheryl Marie Stewart, Midwest City; Stephanie Celine Stewart, Norman; Teresa Renee Tucker, Troy, Ill.; Lori Lynn Wachter, Naperville, Ill.; and Leigh Anne Warren, Tegucigalpa, Honduras.

Among this year's graduating seniors, McPherson was the first student to earn a minor in missionary nursing. The degree was initiated four years ago.

Seventeen OBU nursing graduates have become career missionaries.

Dr. Mark Brister, OBU president, delivered a welcome to those in attendance, and associate professor of nursing, Dr. Juanita Johnson issued the charge.