At the College of Nursing’s recent spring pinning ceremony, one of the 91 nurses accepting their professional pin had a unique distinction. Judy Friesen was the last graduate of the college’s Baccalaureate Program for Registered Nurses (BPRN).
Established in the 1980s, the program was designed for diploma-prepared registered nurses who wanted to attain a bachelor of nursing degree. Admissions to the program were suspended in Fall 2019 due to changing demographics of the nursing workforce.
Friesen received her diploma from St. Boniface Hospital School of Nursing in 1994. She worked at the hospital for several years and, after receiving her pin, started a clinical education facilitator position at UM.
Friesen said her mother, Anne Friesen, was her inspiration to get her bachelor’s degree.
“She graduated from Hamilton School of Nursing in 1958 and went back to school when she was 50. She graduated from the University of Manitoba with her bachelor’s degree in 1986, alongside my sister Bev (Dueck),” Friesen said.
“It was important to her that I finish my degree. I did this for myself, but also to honour her.”
Following the ceremony, Friesen and her sisters visited their mother, who had been sick with cancer for the last two years. A few hours later, their mother passed.
“She wasn’t awake, but I feel she knew,” she said. “All my sisters were there, we were all together. It’s sad, but that’s why the pin means so much to me.”