Today was our class’s white coat ceremony, and I’m surprised by how emotional it was. After seven months of hard work, it was moving to receive special recognition from our professors and families. The coat made me even more eager for our upcoming field trips at Cornell and Columbia NYPress, and also to begin our first clinical education internships in October.
For me, the white coat symbolizes the respect that being a physical therapist commands. As a PT, I’ll be able to see my own patients and help change their lives by improving their movement and functions. As a student, it’s a reminder that even though it seems like I’ll be in school forever, I’ll be seeing patients in only six months as a student, and in about two-and-a-half years as a professional. It’s a reminder to keep studying hard and learning as much as I can, and it’s also a cue to take pride in what I’m doing.
It was touching to see our professors give us a standing ovation today, and also to see the pride in my family’s eyes when they came over to congratulate me after the ceremony. And at the reception afterward, it was exciting for my family to get to meet some of my new friends and favorite professors. But the best part was hearing my name called and walking across the stage to don my coat (which was put on by my amazing advisor) and receive my nametag in front of all my peers, professors, parents, brother, uncle, aunt and boyfriend!
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To give some background, while white coat ceremonies are routine for medical schools, they are more unique in physical therapy programs. In fact, the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons started the tradition for medical schools with the Arnold P. Gold Foundation, and they were also the first physical therapy school to hold white coat ceremonies, beginning in 1999.
According to my program, the white coat ceremony is “in recognition of the importance of fostering humanism in health care.” The coat “gives tacit acknowledgement of the students’ beginning transition into a competent clinician. It is a personally delivered gift of faith, confidence and compassion and the belief in the students’ ability to carry on the honorable tradition of physical therapy.”