Iqaluit (Jun 19/06) - Susie Pearce of Iqaluit attained her nursing degree from Nunavut Arctic College on June 9. The following excerpts are from her valedictory speech.

We have finally made it!

Today, we are here to celebrate the accomplishments of five nursing students. With the completion of four years of nursing school, we have each finished a total of 27 courses, written 55 exams, 33 papers, 55 journals; we have spent 1,560 hours in class, 1,522 hours in the clinical area and countless hours studying, researching and writing papers.

The knowledge we now have gives us the baseline of all nursing practices. This allows us to provide competent nursing care to people; it allows us to critically think in various situations; it will allow us to nurse anywhere in the world; it will also allow us to work in various types of nursing settings, opening new doors.

The other part of nursing that we have learned is not from a text book but rather from experiences that we have gone through - experience that is shared from our instructors and experience that is shared from the people that we have cared for.

Now that we have completed the program, the learning doesn't stop here. We will continue to master nursing skills and overcome challenges that lay before us.

Not just anyone becomes a nurse. To become a nurse, one requires certain characteristics. These include being able to understand, listen and respond to people's feelings. You must have patience, open-mindedness and acceptance. You must be able to communicate effectively and work well with other professionals. You have to be non-judgmental, generous, and caring to people. In short, nurses are born, not made.

Today, five competent, strong individuals who were born to be nurses are ready to start a new, exciting chapter in their lives. Four years ago when we first started, each of us were a little nervous, we really didn't know each other and none of us knew what to expect. Each of us had our own reasons for going into the program, but we all had one thing in common: we wanted to become nurses to help make a difference in people's lives.

This is still true today. The difference is that we now have the knowledge and skills to actually put our words and thoughts into action. Through this, we have been able to discover our strengths and weaknesses. We have been able to define who we really are and become proud, confident women ready to take a challenge.

Over the years we have encountered many great memories that we will cherish for the rest of our lives. I will always remember talking about our first catheter, our first IM (intramuscular) injection, our first pap smear, our first everything. We have also overcome many challenges during our school years: personal, family, financial, living, school and clinical situations.

Along the way each of us at one point was ready to give up, but with support from our family, friends and instructors we stuck it through to the end and here we are today.

This day marks the end of one chapter and the start of a new one. We all started on the same path, now that we are completed, we are all going to take our own paths. I do wish each one of you the best of luck. I hope in the future our paths will cross so we could meet each other again and work together.

We are not just nurses. Now we are the role models for Nunavut. To all the grads, stand with pride and congratulations to all.