From the judges: This entry represents true innovation with a short turnaround to give students as close to a "normal" commencement as possible, while incorporating new ideas that can be used in the post-COVID world, too. It's clear that much care and consideration were given to this endeavor.
Pivoting in a Pandemic: How Communications Can Re-envision New Traditions
Category
Communications > Communications Pivot
Description
Silver
Institution: University of South Florida
Title of entry: Pivoting in a Pandemic: How Communications Can Re-envision New Traditions
About this entry: I am nominating the University of South Florida College of Nursing’s Communications & Marketing team for their exceptional and innovative work in creating a comprehensive virtual graduation ceremony for our nursing students that celebrated student success during the coronavirus pandemic.
In mid-March, the College of Nursing was under work-from-home orders and a university-wide directive prohibiting in-person events. We were less than two months from hosting the Baccalaureate Pinning Ceremony – a formal ceremony to officially welcome undergraduate nurses into the profession. The Spring ceremony typically celebrates more than 240 students and includes many nursing traditions, including awards, student speakers, and the recitation of the Florence Nightingale Nursing Pledge. The college decided the best way to celebrate our new nurses was to create a pre-recorded virtual ceremony which mirrored the in-person ceremony as much as possible. With so many unknowns with COVID-19, we wanted our students safe, but we didn’t want them to miss out on the graduation experience.
Under the new pre-recorded format, every aspect of the ceremony had to re-imagined. This re-envisioning was a gigantic pivot in the age of COVID. Scripts were rewritten. Speeches had to be recorded. Individual students reciting the nurse’s pledge had to be taped from home. In addition, we printed the formal program so students would have a keepsake. The entire production - produced and edited by the Communications & Marketing team - was a creative way to celebrate student success and to continue the nursing traditions during a pandemic.