Capping Day 2017

It was a special Friday at the Nursing School on March 3rd as our freshmen class who had just completed their first semester had their Capping Ceremony. This is an old tradition (pretty sure it was imported somewhere along the way) where students get to wear their white uniforms for the first time. Female nurses still wear caps here and this is their first time wearing them, hence the name the of the ceremony. One of the best parts is we got to meet their parents and families. There is no parent orientation at the beginning of the school year here, so we do a meeting on Capping Day for them.

This ceremony also signifies that they will be allowed to do clinicals in the hospital this coming semester. We were talking in the office at the Nursing School this week how just wearing the white seems to give them more confidence. It was a really rough first semester with more students failing more classes than ever in recent years, so we can hope that will change this semester as they continue to mature. I don't teach them in their first semester, so I am looking forward to getting to know them and teaching them Nursing Fundamentals this semester like how to take a blood pressure and do a physical exam.

Ok time for the pictures and a couple of short videos (for those reading this in your email you might need to click the link to go to the blog to watch the videos).

Our freshmen class. The student dressed in yellow in the center represents the Florence Nightingale Pledge they take

One of the parents shares that they are entrusting their kids to the Nursing School, which is important culturally here

Dr. Paul shares some words of wisdom about surviving school and the responsibilities of being a nurse

The three students with the highest grades

This is our official Nursing School song that talks about how the school was founded by God and they want to be students here to be shaped and educated by teachers and staff who will lead well and give them lots of work so they can be professional nurses.

They then sang a second song about our motto that is from Ephesians and speaks about how we were all created by God, so that we can do the good works He has prepared for us.

The final song was for their parents. It is a classic Indonesian song that talks about how their parents raised them, loved them, and cared for them and how they are the best. As you can see, we lost "Florence Nightingale" to tears before we even finished the first verse and most of the first row and many others were crying by the end. For some of these students it was especially hard because their parents weren't present because they have passed away already.

Please be praying for us teachers and the students as we seek to not only help them become knowledgeable nurses but model a servant's heart that has compassion for others.