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AVON PARK, Fla. – May 12, 2026 – South Florida State College (SFSC) honored 54 Associate in Science in Nursing (ADN) students in a traditional pinning ceremony on Thursday, May 7 at the Alan Jay Wildstein Center for the Performing Arts on the SFSC Highlands Campus in Avon Park.
The graduates are: Jada Altieri, Welsey Baggett, Rosendo Barrera, Bonnie Bowden, Emily Canals Ortiz-Vasquez, Hannah Caveney, Esha Collins, Dusti Connors, Rhianna Davis, Flavia de la Paz Martinez, Colten Denby, Katja Eddinger, Mya Ervin, Jessica Folan, Alexis Franklin, Derek Garcia, Camryn Hall, Yesenia Hernandez, Benito Hernandez Jr., Christian Inabnett, Maria Lopez Morejon, Deborah Loriston, Yazmin Lozada, Itzel Magana-Navarette, Myrlande Matine, Monica Medrano, Stephanie Mejia Gomez, Imelda Mendez-Guerrero, Dominique Morales, Aleksandra Nader, Stephanie Perez, Robert Brian Perkins, Callie Phillips, Tristan Quinn, Reyna Quintero, Cadee Richardson, Isabella Rivero, Denija Rochester, Letisha Romero, Paola Rosa Medina, Liliana Sanchez Jimenez, Magnolia Santiago, Erica Sebastian-Paz, Rachel Shaw, Katrina Ashley Siason, Woaldor St Vil, Madalyn Tyson, Trinity Vansickle, Andrea Vasquez, Juanita Villafana Rocha, Brian Weed, Mikayla Wesley, Shonoye Whitely, and Sammara Williams.
Each year, Nursing graduates award the Golden D.U.C.K. to someone who has served as a mentor to the students in the program. The D.U.C.K. acronym represents the foundational elements of the mentoring arrangement: Developing, Understanding, Compassion, and Knowledge. Nursing graduates presented the 2026 Golden D.U.C.K. Award to Kristina Wilson, SFSC Nursing success coach.
During his introduction of Wilson, graduating student Tristan Quinn said, “She has supported us with compassion, guidance, and encouragement every step of the way.”
Two of the Nursing graduates were honored with special recognition. Andrea Vasquez was presented the Thakkar Academic Excellence Award and Maria Lopez Morejon was given the Thakkar Clinical Excellence Award.
Guest speaker for the ceremony was Ralene Graham, SFSC Nursing instructor. During the ceremony, the graduates’ loved ones presented them with their individual nursing pins. The graduates, then, passed the flame of a lamp, one to another, before reciting the Nightingale Pledge.
The pinning we know today originated in the 1850s at the Nightingale School of Nursing at St. Thomas Hospital in London. Having been awarded the Red Cross of St. George for her selfless service to the injured and dying during the Crimean War, Florence Nightingale chose to extend this offer to her most outstanding graduating nurses by presenting each of them with a medal of excellence. The presentation of the lamp is a symbol of the caring devotion nurses administer to the sick and injured in the practice of nursing. After nurses were pinned, Nightingale would light a lamp and pass the flame to each nurse as they recited the pledge. The passing of the flame represents a formal welcoming of new nurses to the profession.
Graduates of the ADN program become registered nurses by passing the National Council Licensure Examination for Registered Nurses (NCLEX-RN). SFSC Nursing graduates are usually fully employed in nursing within a few months of graduation.
SFSC offers an online Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN), a two-year generic Associate in Science in Nursing, a 13-month Transition Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN) to Registered Nurse (RN) Associate in Science in Nursing, and an 11-month Practical Nursing (PN) Career Certificate. For more information about SFSC’s Nursing programs, contact Danielle Nuccio, Health Sciences advisor, at 863-784-7027 or by email at healthsciences@southflorida.edu
