Confetti, silly string, beach balls and streamers littered the floor of the Daniel Meyer Coliseum  after Saturday’s commencement exercise for the class of 2012 of the Harris College of Nursing and Health Sciences.

 

Since at least 1978 graduates from the nursing program celebrate throughout their ceremony, Suzy Lockwood said, a professor in the nursing school wrote in an email.

 

From tests, to group projects, to their nerve racking first experience alone with a patient, to giving injections and medications, the nursing students experience a lot of stress and the celebration is the culmination of their hard work and accomplishment, Nathan Patrick said, a senior nursing major. 

 

The graduates blow off steam from their journey during nursing school through the celebration, Patrick said. 

 

Nursing professors encourage the seniors to make sure each celebration is bigger and better than the previous year, Kelly Nixon, a senior nursing major said. 

 

Nixon and Patrick are both officers on the Student Nurses Association and said the senior committee makes sure the planning and organization for the event is taken care of in advance. 

 

Each senior student donated $10 to help pay for supplies, Patrick said. This year seniors bought cheap tool belts at Home Depot and Lowe’s in order to make sure all 62 graduating seniors could carry in their celebratory supplies.