Colonel Lorraine Fritz keynote for Widener Nurses

(Chester, Pa.) -- The Nightingale Ceremony is a traditional pinning ceremony for graduating nursing students, reflecting the values and traditions of the profession.

While holding a lit candle to honor the late Florence Nightingale, who made late night, solitary rounds in a Crimean military hospital to care for wounded soldiers by candlelight, all students will recite the Nightingale Pledge, written by the International Council of Nurses, and vow to uphold the integrity of the profession. The burning candle flame symbolizes the human spirit that is at the core of healing both now and back then.

There will be 92 seniors graduating from the School of Nursing at Widener Universityon Friday, May 11 in Alumni Auditorium at 11 a.m.

Colonel Lorraine Fritz will be the keynote speaker at the ceremony this year. Colonel Fritz has served the country as an Army Nurse for almost three decades. She echoes the mission of the university, as it has a strong ROTC program. Each year the Army hopes to commission 225 Army Nurses, Widener’s School of Nursing has played a role in that as in pervious years they have contributed up to 5% of its graduates.