MTI students hold special pinning ceremony for hospitalized fellow student

Traci Adams, along with her parents and her husband Shannon have been through an ordeal in the past week.  Traci, a Manatee Technical Institute student in the Medical Assisting program, started having stomach pains that she ignored at first, but when they became more serious she decided to go to the hospital to get checked out.  Traci was admitted to Lakewood Ranch Medical Center for major abdominal surgery that kept her in the ICU for four days.  While Traci was in the hospital recovering, the rest of her classmates were getting ready to attend the pinning ceremony to signify that they are now full-fledged medical assistants.  Traci had spent the last thirteen months preparing for that moment.  She tried to talk the doctors into letting her go but they wouldn’t budge.  So program director Jane Arnoldi and several students and faculty decided to bring the pinning ceremony to her.  They joined Traci and her family in the hospital yesterday to celebrate with a private ceremony.  Tears were shed by everyone in the room on this special day for Traci Adams—a day she said she will remember always.