Florence Nightingale Award

This is the best week ever. We had our final Monday. I didn't have to take it because I did well on the HESI exit exam (similar to a board test) and was happy with my lecture grade. For this reason, I was able to go up to Kansas last week, instead of studying, which made me really happy.

Our pinning ceremony took place Monday. The instructors announced the awards that the students had chosen. The final award was introduced, by my instructor from last semester, as the "Florence Nightingale Award." She stated the ward was voted on my the nursing faculty and to be given to someone who would strongly carry on Florence's vision of nursing and would represent the school. She talked about it for several more moments and then informed the class that this year's recipient would be ME! I was completely shocked and blown away by this honor. Another instructor went up to the podium to hand me my own copy of Florence Nightingale's "Notes on Nursing," a beautiful book I will treasure FOREVER. The instructor told the class that this was the most important award given to the student that the instructors would personally choose to take care of themselves or one of their loved ones. That right there means everything to me.

My favorite quote from Florence pretty much sums of my beliefs on nursing-

"Nursing is an art: and if it is to be made an art, it requires an exclusive devotion as hard a preparation, as any painter's or sculptor's work; for what is the having to do with dead canvas or dead marble, compared with having to do with the living body, the temple of God's spirit? It is one of the Fine Arts: I had almost said, the finest of Fine Arts."

I don't know if I deserve this award more than any of my other peers....But, I do know how much I love nursing. This career has taught me so much- not only how to take care and talk to others but it has helped me figure out who I really am. I've wanted to be a RN since I was 18 years old and it has been the one constant dream of mine since. I can't believe I am there.