NATCHEZ — New nurses in their white uniforms received pins designating their professional status Thursday at the Alcorn State University School of Nursing official pinning ceremony.

A large crowd of families and friends gathered at the Natchez Convention Center to see nurses take part in the ritual, which goes back to the 19th century and is considered a rite of passage in the field of nursing.

The Alcorn students will graduate Saturday at the Lorman campus in the university-wide ceremony.

ASU Nursing School Dean Mary Hill said the 2007 graduating class shows how the school is growing.

“The nursing school had 37 graduates in 2001,” Hill said. They included 15 with associate degrees, 11 with bachelor’s of science degrees and 11 with master’s degrees.

The 2007 graduating class included 70 students — 34 with associate degrees, 26 with bachelor’s of science degrees, seven with master’s of science degrees and three with post-master certificates.

Graduate Deidra Johnson, who will receive her bachelor’s degree in nursing Saturday, spoke for her classmates, describing the long struggle associated with gaining the four-year nursing degree.

“We shared each other’s highs and lows of struggles in nursing school and in life in general,” Johnson said. “And I do not forget those who are still struggling.”

Tavithia Porter, a graduate in the associate degree program, said she and her classmates were challenged both mentally and physically during their nursing studies.

“Many people can say they graduated from nursing school, but not that they graduated from Alcorn State University Nursing School,” she said.

She and her classmates have set the goal “not only to be a nurse but to be the best” they can be, she said.

Jose Serio, a family nurse practictioner, was guest speaker.

A graduate of Alcorn Nursing School with both a bachelor’s and an master’s degree, Serio works with Internal Medicine Associates and is part owner and partner in the after hours clinic at The Doctors’ Pavilion in Natchez.

He advised the graduating nurses to “always remember those basic knowledge skills … and continue to work on those skills.

“Do not forget the devotion and work ethic that brought you this far. That will determine the kind of nurse you are.”

ASU Interim President Malvin Williams spoke of the great strides made by the nursing school in several decades, as classes moved from a trailer in Duncan Park to the former First Baptist Church building in downtown Natchez to the modern facility on the campus adjacent to Copiah-Lincoln Community College.

Williams said the community with quality education at its heart is a community that will thrive.

“We hope we will be the quality that will help to drive this community and economic development,” he said.