Physician assistant program keeps tradition with modified coating ceremony

RIT physician assistant students from the Class of 2020 met in front of the Clinical Health Sciences Center one evening last month for a special tradition and rite of passage—the White Coat ceremony.

The coronavirus pandemic prevented the students from completing their clinical internships on time to graduate. It also robbed them of the coating tradition and the closure it gives them to their education. The symbolic event is a tradition in many professional health programs. RIT’s physician assistant professors present graduating students with a personalized, professional-length white coat.

The fifth year BS/MS students resumed their rotations at the end of May. They prepared for the national PA licensing exam after completing their program requirements.

Postponed plans were made to hold the coating ceremony July 24. Wearing face masks and being physical distanced, students and their friends and families stood near their cars in RIT’s parking lot T. Faculty addressed the class, and College of Health Sciences and Technology graduate delegate Bridget Bowman, from Mechanicsburg, Pa., delivered her graduation speech standing in front of the Clinical Health Sciences Center. Family members or close friends stood in for the faculty and presented the white coats to their students in a staging area at the bottom of the stairs.

Twenty-six of the 33 graduates were able to come to the event, said Heidi Miller, director of RIT’s physician assistant program, who officiated her final ceremony. After 27 years, Miller will step down in December as head of the program she helped create. Miller will stay on the faculty.

“Our graduates had so many incredible stories,” Miller said. “I’m just glad we could do this modified version of the White Coat ceremony for them in the midst of this global pandemic. It was deeply meaningful to all us.”