Pinning ceremony marks the end of a long journey and the start of a new career for Algonquin College nursing grads

Studying in the practical nursing program often comes with a stressful workload and sleepless nights. Students and professors at Algonquin College say it can be intense.

But all the hard work pays off in that long-awaited pinning ceremony where students receive their practical nursing pin in front of their fellow graduates, friends and family.

On Oct. 15, practical nursing graduates took to the stage at the Algonquin Commons Theatre (ACT) to receive this symbolic pin, marking the transition from a student to a member of the wider nursing community.

“It’s a lot of hard work,” graduating student Anjali Chandel said. “We deserve to celebrate that hard work, the success, and the stress we took on over the two years.”

Chandel was the organizer for the pinning ceremony this year. She opened and closed the ceremony with inspiring words for her new nursing colleagues.

“As we leave this ceremony and take our first steps as professional nurses, let us go forward with courage, empathy and with an unwavering commitment to be the best nurses we can be,” Chandel said.

More than just a chance to celebrate graduation, the pinning ceremony was a moment to finally relax for graduates like Isabella Crowne.

“I feel relieved, honestly. It was hard, but I feel very accomplished,” Crowne said.

Describing the pressures as a student in the practical nursing program, Crowne said with a laugh, “my will to live dwindled several times, but I loved every minute of it.”

A poignant moment of the ceremony was when the new nurses receive their pins from another nurse of their choosing.

Many students chose to have their professors pin them during the ceremony; some chose nurses they worked with during their placements.

According to Kim Gray, an instructor in the practical nursing program, there have been cases of grandmothers pinning granddaughters and welcoming them into the field of nursing, one familial generation of nurses welcoming the next.

The ceremony also has a rich history that began with Florence Nightingale, the founder of modern nursing, who provided specialized pins to her hardest-working students in honour of their dedication to the program.

By 1916, it became standard practice to provide pins to all nursing graduates.

This was a big moment for the 2025 graduates of the practical nursing program and the audience made sure they knew it with the sound of clapping and cheering filling the theatre when each graduate stepped onto the stage.

“It feels like, not so much the end of a race, but the next part of a relay,” Alexander McCaffrey said about receiving his pin.

“This is the initiation into a profession, one that I hope I will be in for the rest of my life.”