Nursing profession welcomes 71 PSC grads into honorable ranks, including a mom, daughter

Mother, Breanne Duby with daughter, Morgan Duby

“I’m going to cry.”

You couldn’t blame Breanne Duby for getting a little emotional. Moments earlier, the 39-year-old mother received her nursing pin on Thursday, May 4, at the 2023 Pensacola State College Department of Health Sciences Spring Pinning Ceremony.

Her oldest daughter, Morgan Duby, 20, also was pinned at the ceremony. The mother-and-daughter duo became nurses together.

The women were two of 71 PSC students who received nursing pins at the ceremony at First Pentecostal Church. They will receive their Associate in Science in Nursing degree at the 2023 PSC Spring Commencement Ceremony on Thursday, May 11, at the Pensacola Bay Center.

There also will be 15 nurses who will receive a Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree at the Commencement Ceremony.

“I’ve never been so proud of my mother as I am now,’’ Morgan Duby said as she clasped her mother following the pinning ceremony. “Doing something like this together has brought us closer together. Being a wife and mother of four daughters, she works so hard. I’m just so very admirable and proud – more than she knows.”

Breanne Duby teared up a bit as her oldest daughter spoke.

Then, she hugged her daughter tighter.

“Having her there with me to go through the process, she understood the stress and pressure that nursing demands,’’ Breanne Duby added. “She was someone I could practice on or go to when I was confused about topics. She was someone who encouraged me while she was accomplishing so much at the same time at such a young age. She just turned 20. I’m very proud.”

Breanne Duby is already working at Baptist Hospital and will soon move to the hospital’s progressive care unit. Morgan Duby will start her nursing profession at Gulf Breeze Hospital.

They’re joining a noble profession of caregivers who have found new respect, though always deserved, in recent years.

“It took a pandemic to show the world how truly special nurses are,’’ said Dr. Steve Jordan, an orthopedic surgeon at the Andrews Institute, who was the guest speaker at the Nursing Pinning Ceremony.

“So many lives were saved by so many nurses who risked their own lives in the process. Unfortunately, many also made the ultimate sacrifice, doing what nurses do – caring for others. Nursing is not a job. It’s a calling.”

Associate in Science in Nursing graduates

Bachelor of Science in Nursing graduates