Students from Selma were cloaked in Auburn University at Montgomery’s first White Coat Ceremony on Oct. 7 by faculty, administration, and local healthcare leaders along with nearly 400 students in nursing, communication disorders, and medical and clinical laboratory sciences.

The students and their majors were:

Cameron Boney, nursing

Carol McIntyre, nursing

Lynsey Pfeiffer, nursing

Vanessa Pitts, nursing

The event welcomed new students into the healthcare professions, and a critical element of the ceremony was the oath that the students took in front of family members, school leadership and peers.

Students were then given specially designed pins provided by the Gold Foundation that serve as a visual reminder of their oath and commitment to providing high quality, humanistic, patient-centered care.

“This inaugural ceremony at AUM was unique because it was inclusive of all students in the health professions as we recognized that each student has an important role in health care,” said Dr. Jean Leuner, Dean of AUM’s College of Nursing and Health Sciences. “Together as members of the health care team, these future health care leaders share a commitment to provide high-quality care to their patients and compassion and empathy must be the hallmark of their practice.”

Leuner was joined at the ceremony by Robin Barca, senior vice president and chief operating officer at Baptist Health, who delivered the evening address. Baptist Health was the lead sponsor for the ceremony.

“On behalf of Baptist Health, we are especially pleased to serve as the lead sponsor for AUM’s inaugural White Coat Ceremony,” Barca said. “It is truly an honor to recognize these special students as they embark on their journey to enter such noble professions and to become impassioned members of the health care team, dedicating their careers to the service of others.”

The White Coat Ceremony was made possible with a grant from the Arnold P. Gold Foundation to support the Gold-AACN White Coat Ceremony for Nursing.

The Auburn Montgomery College of Nursing and Health Sciences received one of only 50 grants distributed nationwide in 2016 from the Arnold P. Gold Foundation.

In addition, support from local sponsors, such as Baptist Health, helped to make the white coat ceremony possible.

“We would like to thank the Arnold P. Gold Foundation, our lead sponsor Baptist Health, as well as David and Matthew Earnest of Earnest Financial LLC, and an anonymous donor for their support of this inaugural Ceremony, the first of its kind in our area,” said Ms. Martie McEnerney, Senior Development Officer in the AUM Office of Advancement.