Happy Graduation Day!

He did it! After 6 years, Dave has graduated! He will be getting his B.S. degree in Health Administrative Services. He wrapped up all class work, and will be finishing up his internship this summer. But those who graduate during the summer semester are advised to walk for the Spring commencement. So we had that Friday. It was a great day!
We woke up bright and early to be at the Dee Event Center by 7:30. Dave lined up and waited to walk in, while I finished getting the kids ready. My parents came to the morning University Commencement. It was pretty good, but long, as always. There were about 2,500 graduates this semester from WSU. It was fun to see some friends I had while in school and some from our current or past student wards; Roseann & Pete Owen, Ammon Ence, Mike Koefed, Jon Anderson, Nicole Thompson, Cassie Costley, and more. Of course, the Wind Ensemble was playing for the occasion, which I was excited about, as I used to be in that group. It brought back some great band nerd memories. The student speaker was Amil Aziz, who is from Afghanistan, majoring in CLS. He had a great story to tell and was very passionate about America and the opportunities it provides. It was touching. The keynote speaker was Jerry H. Peterson, who is a local successful businessman, and a good friend of my Great Aunt & Uncle. He was very down-to-earth and we all really liked what he had to say. During one portion of the presentation, the speaker asked those who had graduated from WSU to stand up. I stood up, my Mom stood up (graduated in Business), and lots of others, of course. It was cool to see how many in attendance had also graduated from WSU. My favorite is seeing all of the professors in the funny caps and gowns. They had a film (my dad said it seemed more like a promotional video, I agreed) and that was kind of fun. You gotta love the pomp and circumstance of it all.
After the graduation ceremony, there was a luncheon on campus we stuck around for with my parents. We then walked around the campus together, which had changed a lot since my Mom went there in the late 70’s and early 80’s. I hadn’t seen the new facelift for the bell tower, Elizabeth Hall (someday the Comm department will move in there so they won’t have to share buildings with the Chemical technology folks…they stink because 1. The experiments do with the chemicals they have and 2. They are always smoking outside of the building. At least when I went there) and hadn’t seen the complete Union Building renovation (it was almost complete when we went to the last Homecoming). It’s looking really nice. The new landscaping and waterfalls they’ve put in near the bell tower are very beautiful. I think the campus is a lovely one, and it’s just getting better. All of the activities on campus brought back lots of great feelings and I couldn’t help reminiscing in my mind. Ah, the memories.

Then we went to the library. My mom’s grandfather, Thomas Wheelwright, donated many church books several years ago to the University, including a first edition of the Book of Mormon. My mom’s grandpa used to show the books to her when she was young, but she had never seen them at WSU. We went up to the Special Collections, and they let us back into the archives. He donated several rows of book shelves of “Times and Seasons”, “Teaching of the Prophets” and many old church books and magazines. It was neat to see, and there were many there, a lot more than I had ever thought. The library worker who let us back actually told us many had used the books and magazines for senior projects and thesis’. So it’s good to know they’re being used. Then we asked about the Book of Mormon. The worker told us they hardly ever got it out, because of the worth and value, and in light of the robberies of early Book of Mormons that occurred a few years ago, but because my Mom was special, she went back to the vault, and brought it out in her gloved hands. It was in a special box to help preserve it. It was so neat to see it, and look at the notes that people had written in it. I felt the spirit very strongly concerning the origins of the book and how it came about. I also felt grateful for my ancestors, who had the courage and faith to join the church, and who have been so faithful to the Lord, putting me in the position where I am today. After, we talked about how many people had probably possessed the book, and who it was passed around to. We thought it would be cool to start a Book of Mormon, and have everyone who had read it and passed it along to sign their name and where they live and the date they started and finished to see the process of where it came from/where it ended up.

That afternoon, we had the College of Health Professions commencement ceremony. Yasmine Simone, the college Dean gave a quick speech, then the names were read. After it was all over, and the recent graduates were walking off the floor into the tunnel, Emma looked at me, and with a concerned look on her face, said “So we’re never going to see Daddy again?” I don’t know where she got that idea from! It was pretty funny though. That night, we went to ABC Mandarin (one of Dave’s favorite “eating places” as Emma would say) with the Ryerse’s. Then we went home and took naps. That night, we went to go get ice-cream at Big Rock and rented a movie (Bed Time Stories…we thought it was really cute).
The glad grad and his proud kids - our family bleeds purple!!

These kids are a product of two Wildcats! (:

Dave has been such a great student. He is such an example to me of loving learning. He really enjoys learning about things, and gets excited to tell me about that new knowledge. He has been such an amazing full-time provider/student/father. He does so much and for that I’m grateful. He told me he still doesn’t feel like he’s done much, and there’s still a lot to do. I agree with that. It’s so important to be a life-long learner. A college education means nothing, really.
I am also grateful that we decided to go to WSU. We both got quality educations and loved our time there. I’m also SO glad we met, fell in love, and married because of Weber State. I was going to go to USU, until the last minute, I changed my mind. He was signed up for Helicopter school, but then decided Weber might be the way to go. How wonderful we ended up at Weber! I really love that place. Rarr rarr rarr!