Convocation

It's hard to believe the day of convocation finally came! Convocation is the nursing school's pinning ceremony that was held the night (my birthday! what a gift, right?) before graduation. It's a lot more intimate because it is only Orvis and not the entire University and each graduate gets to write a little talk that is read while they are being pinned. Before the ceremony they played a little slide show of some of our moments. My Aunt Linda caught one of our teaching moments during the summer at the Boys and Girls Club up on the slide show.
I was so thrilled that I got to get a photo before the ceremony with one of the neatest and most inspiring women I've ever met. Dr. Kate Sheppard was my clinical instructor this summer and she's definitely someone I'll never forget and hope to stay in contact with.
Here I am walking into the ceremony. For some reason I was *so* nervous!
My pinners were my mom and Wes. Wes was able to bring up Liam which I was sooo happy about. Here is what was read while I was being pinned(this is the copy of the card we had to fill out):

Name: Holly Stephenson

Pinned by: Wes Stephenson (husband) & Kathy Fawcett (mom)

Statement: I can’t believe this day has finally come. I am thrilled to finally call myself a nurse. I need to thank my wonderful husband, Wes, and son, Liam, who kept my head high and loved me throughout the happy and not-so-happy moments of nursing school, my dear parents for supporting me and loving me and listening to me, my sweet grandparents for watching Liam at a moment’s notice, and my extended family and friends that understood when I had to study and helped me through many acts of kindness. Thank you to the wonderful teachers and classmates who have inspired me to become a great nurse.

Future Plans: I will start in January working as a nurse and office manager for Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery Associates. My long term goals are to work in a birthing center and eventually become a Certified Nurse Midwife.

All of us up on stage:
Wes did a great job pinning me. :) He didn't poke me or anything. ;)

Here are more photos, more for my sake than anyone else's, of some of the best people who became some wonderful, lifelong friends throughout nursing school.

First, my friend, Michelle. She's awesome and I'm so grateful to have had her to go through school with. Here we are together with her soon-to-be baby boy, Luke. :)


Mommy and LiamHappy, Happy Day! No more homework!
Our little family:
My wonderful grandparents:
My amazing parents:
Our little family again:
With my great in-laws:
My Aunt Linda and her granddaughter, Luci, came all the way from Minnesota! What a treat!
My mom and I-- two generations of Orvis Alumni:
My friend, Danelle. She's such an awesome girl and we were able to support eachother and survive Level I clinical together. :D
Darren was my summer clinical partner. We had such awesome patients and had so much fun doing our projects and Boys and Girls teaching stuff together.
And Bri, who I also got to know well during clinical in the summer. We had some CRAZY home visit experiences and were able to laugh our way through them. Everyone seems to think we should be twins since we have similar hair and are both 5'11.
More to come later for the after-convocation party and official UNR graduation!