DE-MSN, 2nd-year BSN students receive stethoscopes
Saint Vincent College nursing students on Friday, Sept. 5, participated in a Stethoscope Ceremony and Blessing of Hands inside the Fred M. Rogers Center on campus.
The event—the first of its kind at SVC—recognized second-year students enrolled in the Bachelor of Science in nursing (BSN) program and the first students in the College’s Direct Entry – Master of Science in nursing (DE-MSN) program.
Dr. Helen Burns, Rev. Owen Roth, O.S.B., Inaugural Chair of the Department of Nursing at SVC, said the event is one of the most meaningful milestones in a student’s journey in the nursing programs.
“It honors them as they begin their clinical practice and experiences, symbolizing compassion, care and a commitment to healing,” Burns said. “We are most moved by the humanity that we know you will carry into every room and each experience. Nursing is more than a profession. It is a ministry of presence, and the world needs exactly who each of you are.”
Father Paul Taylor, O.S.B., C’87, S’91, president of Saint Vincent College, lauded the nursing programs, noting that they mesh seamlessly with the College’s core curriculum of humanities, liberal arts, values and reasoning that nurses need to be successful.
“One of the things I'm proud of,” Father Paul said to the students, “is that I know that when you are faced with life and death situations at the bedside of a patient, you will have already thought through every important thing that that patient needs to know and you need to know as the caregiver, because it is medicine with love and caring and respect for the sanctity of that human life that you will learn in this program.”
Rt. Rev. Martin de Porres Bartel, O.S.B., S’85, archabbot of Saint Vincent Archabbey and chancellor of Saint Vincent College, blessed the hands of the prospective nurses during the ceremony. He applauded the students for their chosen field, adding that he looks forward to the day when the students will practice their profession with the highest standards of care.
“May your hands, not less than anointed, become vessels of healing, gentle in touch, steady and still, and rich in compassion,” he said. “In the spirit of Saint Benedict, may you seek balance in all things: labor and rest, knowledge and humility, strength and tenderness. May you walk with grace, guided by wisdom and sustained by faith.”
Stethoscopes were distributed by Dr. Stephen Jodis, dean of the Herbert W. Boyer School of Natural Sciences, Mathematics and Computing; Dr. Kimberly Whiteman, DE-MSN program director; and Lisa Atkinson, Center for Excellence and Innovation in Nursing director at SVC. The students represent the inaugural graduating classes for the respective nursing programs.
Students receiving stethoscopes included Class of 2028 BSN students:
Lily Arnold (Bedford), Abigail Bauer (Worthington), Connor Bauerline (New Oxford), Caitlyn Cooley (Pittsburgh), Cara Dupilka (Latrobe), Giovanna Ferraro (Elizabeth), Haley Hamilton (Shelocta), Mason Krabbe (Mechanicsville, Maryland), Armani Lorusso (Brockton, Massachusetts), Kaelyn Neeley (Duncansville), Sr. Teresa Obonyo (Denville, New Jersey), Jilliane Rae Penar (Latrobe), Rakiyah Porter (California), Janay Rissmiller (York), Kara Smith (Painesville, Ohio), Kyra Smith (Belle Vernon), Rheagan Smith (Greensburg), Meegan Williams (Homer City), Taylor Williams (Traverse City, Michigan) and Alisha Wisner (Latrobe).
And Class of 2027 DE-MSN students:
Sofia Felbaum, C’25 (Greensburg); Olivia Knepp, C’22 (Greensburg); Jennae Popelas, C’21 (Latrobe); Emily Taylor, C’22 (Latrobe); and Bailey Yon (Johnstown).
The students also recited the Saint Vincent College Nursing Pledge of Excellence, a formal promise committing to ethical and professional standards of care. The pledge was recently articulated using student responses to various in-class prompts.
The ceremony honored the legacy of Alice Longe Cleveland, whose son, Charles Cleveland, C’72, and wife, Joan, recently established an endowment to provide stethoscopes in perpetuity for students in SVC’s nursing programs.
Alice Longe Cleveland enjoyed a successful healthcare career as a nurse, and later, as administrator of Renovo Hospital in Clinton County. She attracted national attention in December 1961 when she led the hospital team that saved the lives of two young Ohio hunters who were found nearly frozen in the Pennsylvania woods. Under her direction, nurses and staff worked in shifts for two days to warm the men with towels. Though both lost toes to frostbite, her intervention prevented further amputations. The story was featured in Life magazine in February 1962.
“I wanted to do something in her honor,” Charles Cleveland said, recalling numerous occasions where former patients told him that his mother was an excellent nurse, and that she saved lives. “When [Saint Vincent College] opened the nursing program,” he added, “I thought it would be a good opportunity.”
