News Brief: Class of 2020 Student Nurses Receive White Coats

Pictured: NYIT student Sharonda Hull gives the Mary Eliza Mahoney tribute.

On October 24, nearly 50 NYIT nursing students received their white coats at the Nursing White Coat Ceremony. The event is a formal welcome into the nursing profession and signifies the nursing student's transition from classroom learning to clinical learning.

Donna Darcy, clinical assistant professor and a member of the ceremony’s planning committee, introduced Jerry Balentine, D.O., vice president for medical affairs and global health, who welcomed the attendees. His address was followed by remarks from Gordon Schmidt, Ph.D., professor and interim dean in NYIT School of Health Professions, and Lisa Sparacino, Ph.D., assistant professor and interim chair of Nursing.

Keynote speaker NYIT alumnus Djimmitry Jean-Louis, MSN, RN-BC (B.S. ’15) and student speaker Michael Flandrau also addressed the class of 2020. Sharonda Hull, a member of the new Mary Eliza Mahoney Society at NYIT, gave the Mary Eliza Mahoney tribute. (The society celebrates the life of the first black nurse in the United States.)

Newly coated nursing students at the Nursing White Coat Ceremony.