White Coat Ceremony to usher MC nursing students into healing profession

Elizabeth “Tren” Lawson Garbo '97, the MC School of Nursing's 2025 Distinguished Alumnus of the Year, will serve as guest speaker for the school's White Coat Ceremony.

The Mississippi College School of Nursing White Coat Ceremony welcomes first-semester nursing students into the healthcare profession by emphasizing the integration of compassionate care, scientific excellence and Christian faith.

When faculty, staff, students and honored guests of the school gather for this semester’s ceremony at 5 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 2, in Swor Auditorium in Nelson Hall, the occasion will have added significance for senior MC nursing students like Garrett LaFollette of Hattiesburg and Anna Kate Hester of Huntsville, Alabama.

The pair will be among the graduating semester student cohort that will help “cloak” their freshmen peers, symbolizing the passing of knowledge, skills and dedication.

“When I received my white coat during my first semester of nursing school, the program taught us how we can use our knowledge and professionalism to care for others,” LaFollette said. “The white coat serves as a beacon of the nursing student’s readiness to interact and care for the community.”

“Participating in the White Coat Ceremony remains one of my favorite moments,” Hester said. “Welcoming someone into the program the same way I was welcomed feels incredibly special. It brings my nursing journey full circle as I look back on my growth academically, professionally and spiritually.”

Elizabeth “Tren” Lawson Garbo, a 1997 graduate of the MC School of Nursing and the school’s 2025 Distinguished Alumnus of the Year, will serve as guest speaker. Garbo is vice president and chief nursing officer at Our Lady of the Angels Hospital in Bogalusa, Louisiana.

Following Garbo’s address, the freshmen nursing students will ascend to the stage in pairs, where a fourth-semester nursing student will help them into their new coats. The students and all healthcare professionals in attendance will receive a “Blessing of the Hands,” which will ask for God’s protection, guidance and wisdom as the students move into the profession of nursing.

The freshmen students will receive a pocket-sized New Testament from the Gideons International as a reminder of their call to Christian caring. After being individually recognized, they will collectively recite the MC School of Nursing creed. MC Provost and Executive Vice President Dr. Michael J. Highfield will perform the invocation.

“Receiving a Bible and experiencing the blessing of the hands reminds us that nursing is not just about what we do, but about who we are called to be,” Hester said. “Being surrounded by faculty who lead with both excellence and Christ-like love makes the ceremony meaningful as we prepare to serve others with compassion and purpose.”

Callie Tate, MC instructor in nursing, said the White Coat Ceremony is a powerful reminder of the trust placed in future nurses and the sacred responsibility they have to provide compassionate, competent care to all patients.

“Through the cloaking, the Blessing of the Hands and the presentation of a Gideon Bible, students are reminded of their sacred calling to serve with skill, integrity and compassion,” Tate said. “By participating in the White Coat Ceremony, the students promise to uphold the standards of professional nursing practice with pride and diligence and to work with others in mutual cooperation for the improvement of healthcare services.”

LaFollette said the ceremony is a must-see event for healthcare students at MC.

“If you haven’t had a chance to attend a White Coat Ceremony, you definitely should,” he said. “It is a unique aspect of the Mississippi College School of Nursing that shows how nurses are both called and equipped to be professionals, people of integrity, and a light for God.”

All family and friends of first-semester School of Nursing students are invited to the ceremony. For more information, email Tate at ctate@mc.edu.