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The fourth cohort of �Ļ�ӰԺ Downtown| Grotenhuis Nursing graduates were celebrated at a pinning ceremony in front of friends and family Dec. 12 at Montecito Covenant Church.

In his opening remarks, President Gayle D. Beebe addressed the energy and love the graduates developed with each other and their rapport with their faculty. “We're grateful for the work that you've done to become nurses, to invest in one of the most amazing vocations, one that was totally under-appreciated until the pandemic, and then all of us developed a huge, not only appreciation, but deep respect for the role that you play in delivering health care,” he said.

, a �Ļ�ӰԺ women’s soccer defender who graduated with a bachelor’s degree in kinesiology in 2023, was chosen as the student speaker. She reflected on the journey of the nursing graduates, a diverse group with varied education backgrounds and prior careers, who all shared a commitment to nursing. Over 16 months, they faced challenges such as medication math exams and clinicals, bonded over shared experiences and ethical discussions, and developed a deep sense of compassion and professionalism.

“By attending a liberal arts nursing school, we gained a holistic perspective towards nursing, allowing us to dig deep into scary and hard topics in order to care for patients in their entirety and not be jaded by the complexity of the human experience,” she said. “This has not only been emphasized through our learning, but modeled through our instructors.

“We're not experts or professionals yet by any means, but we are critical thinkers, active learners and ambitious future nurses. With this energy and yearning, we have the opportunity and responsibility to go out into our jobs with these qualities in order to impact the culture and standard of care.”

The faculty speaker, Stephanie Curtis, a lead instructor and a certified nurse midwife, reflected on her career and the significance of her role in women's health and maternal newborn nursing. She emphasized the importance of being prepared for emergencies and discussed the students' mature and compassionate responses to challenging topics, such as teenage trafficking. She advised the students to aim high, ground themselves and offer their work to God, stressing the dignity and importance of all work.

“Offering my work to God helped me keep that standard high, no matter what,” she said. “And then at the end of the day, I could always have joy, because I knew that I was working for somebody who loved me. Your coworkers, they may not love you. Hopefully they do. Your patients may not love you that day, especially depending on their type of care. But if you can offer your work to God, you know you're working for someone who loves you.”

Di Hoffman, nursing program director, gave the Healthcare Achievement Award to Salma Maciel. The award, which includes an engraved Littmann stethoscope, was created by alumnus Ron Peterson ’71 to honor and encourage future medical students.

The new nursing grads include Hill, Maciel, Taylor Bush, Anissa Chacon, Blake Collins, Jade Esparza, Emily Farrah, Clarice Gil, Juan Gomez, Ana Gonzalez, Laura Gonsoski, Katie Grossman, Katie Langhorne, Deborah Milne, Amber Reyes, Gabriela Rico, Anna Robson, Natalie Romero, Brenna Sharpshair, Alejandra Supan, Ashley Vandeweg, Sofia Young, Jasmine Zavala and Kelsey Zimmerman.