Future nurses move on

Fifty-five Glendale Community College nursing students received pins Saturday afternoon, signifying the start of their careers in the medical profession.

After more than two years of intense studying, drawing blood and needle poking, the students will be shifting roles as apprentice to nurse, working one-on-one with patients and doctors.

The nursing students were pinned by their friends and family at Saturday’s ceremony at the Lanterman Auditorium.

Nurses don’t graduate or get certificates — they get pinned, said Cynthia Dorroh, associate dean of health sciences.

“This is an important moment in their learning,” she said.

Nursing pioneer Florence Nightingale decided the pinning ceremony best suited nurses because they never stopped learning, so there couldn’t be an official graduation. Every school has their own unique pin, Dorroh said.

In order to graduate, the students had to complete several math, science and social science prerequisites, then complete the final leg of the nursing program, Dorroh said.

Graduate Seth Whitlow, 29, of West Hollywood, applied to eight nursing programs before she decided on Glendale Community College.

Nursing wasn’t his first calling, he said.

Whitlow moved from North Carolina to the Los Angeles area seven years ago to work in film and television casting.

He decided to explore becoming a nurse after seeing his friend’s daughter being treated for cancer.

Whitlow then began volunteering at a children’s hospital, where he finally decided that nursing was for him

“I just fell in love with it,” he said.

After going through the nursing program, Whitlow said he is confident in making the transition from student to clinician.

“It’s going to fall all on our shoulders,” he said. “It’s fun. It’s exciting.”

Many of the graduates had already nabbed registered nursing jobs at Glendale Adventist Medical Center, Children’s Hospital in Los Angeles and USC Medical Center, and eight interviewed for open positions at Cedars-Sinai Hospital, Dorroh said.

Whitlow was one of the eight who interviewed at the hospital. He has also met with Providence St. Joseph’s Medical Center.

Whitlow had scored a job in the intensive care unit at UCLA Medical Center, but it temporarily rescinded its offer due to budget constraints, he said.

“But we are all optimistic,” he said, adding that the college helps nursing students find open positions.