Pamela Jeffries, the dean of the nursing school, welcomed graduates and their families with a message of reflection and focus. Jeffries urged graduates to seek career-building opportunities beyond hospital walls, before introducing student speaker Tara Brander, a doctoral graduate of nursing practice.

1. Defining success

Brander, who is the first in her family to earn a doctorate degree, reminded her peers that they, together, have survived tough journeys to receive their degrees. She asked them to consider how they define success: by having a degree or by what they achieve with their degrees.

“Success for those of you sitting in this room will be measured by what you have done with your degree years from now, or even next week,” Brander said.

2. Influencing a community

As nurses, Brander said, the graduates will answer a “unique” calling to help improve the lives of others. She pushed her classmates to find chances to give back to their communities outside of the workplace.

“We as nurse leaders should strive to be healthcare providers but also influential within our community,” Brander said.

She encouraged graduates to step outside of their comfort zones, speak up for those who are vulnerable and admit to and learn from their mistakes.

3. Choosing a place

Keynote speaker Pamela Hinds is the director of the Department of Nursing Research and Quality Outcomes and Co-Director of the Center for Translational Science at Children’s National Health System and a professor of pediatrics in the nursing school.

Hinds spoke about the importance of “place” in the field of nursing. She shared an anecdote about a father and son at the hospital where she works who felt comfortable and safe in her and her colleagues’ care, because they had created a friendly atmosphere.

She said the graduates should find places where they feel they can achieve their goals.

“I want you to be in a place where you can fly, to do everything that you have been prepared and educated to do, where in fact, you can achieve your health care legacy,” Hinds said.

4. Declaring a legacy

Hinds said graduates can declare their legacies by setting goals, no matter how lofty. She said that a legacy is the answer to the question, “What is it that I want to be better in healthcare because of me and my efforts?”

Following a legacy, she said, may take students on alternate paths and lead them to dead ends, but that pursuing a legacy will give their careers meaning.

“I, and many others, have been waiting for you, waiting to see you assess, analyze, interpret, create new understandings, to care, to change, and to improve our systems,” Hinds said. “We’ve been waiting for you for awhile, but I know the wait is well worth it.”

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