St. Francis College honored its future nurses, May 12, 2016, hosting its second annual Nursing White Coat Ceremony.

(Watch the Full Nursing White Coat Ceremony)

Almost 40 undergraduate Nursing students received a medical coat emblazoned with the St. Francis College Nursing logo.

The Keynote Address at the Ceremony was delivered by Anne Bové, MSN, a professor at St. Francis College, instructor at Bellevue Hospital and Secretary of the New York State Nurses Association. "Nursing is a creed that is a gift," Bové told the students. "That gift is to be shared with your patients as well as your colleagues and hopefully you'll be able to share with future generations as well."

St. Francis also honored Sister Helen Cahill who is retiring this spring after spending more than ten years as an assistant in the Nursing Department and helping to guide hundreds of students through the program.

The College places a heavy focus on technology in its four year undergraduate Nursing program as well as its two-year RN to BS program. Each student received an iPad to be used for textbooks, a variety of nursing and medical apps, and to link with the College's newly renovated Nursing Lab. The lab features a collection of robot simulators that mimic thousands of symptoms for students to diagnose. All the work is captured on video, giving instructors the opportunity to pinpoint specific areas for improvement.

(See all the photos from the White Coat Ceremony)

White Coat ceremonies first became popular more than 20 years ago and were exclusively for students in medical school. Dean of Academic Programs and Development Allen Burdowski explained that the St. Francis ceremony "recognizes a parity with other health care professions. We want to create a stronger sense of community among all healthcare workers and welcome them into a healthcare team."

The event was held May 12, which is also the birthday of Florence Nightingale, credited with elevating Nursing to a respected and professional field of Health Care.