I did it!! As of Saturday, December 19th, 2009, I am a college graduate. And so is Sean! We both graduated last Saturday, though, unfortunately, we graduated over 100 miles apart. But such is life. We weren't able to attend each others' ceremonies, seeing as mine started at 12:30, and his was at 2:00. But we're done now! That's the most fantastic part. At least, with undergrad.
My family came out for graduation, but they're terrible with taking pictures. I kid you not, I don't have one. single. picture. from my graduation that they took. None of my friends stuck around for pictures (which I'm not going to get into, I was, and still kind of am, incredibly upset about that one), so they didn't see the need to take pictures. Luckily though, my future mother-in-law is camera happy, so I have plenty of pictures back at their house.
I graduated with honors (whoo-hoo!), though they were just departmental honors. Interesting point though: At Mizzou, you need a 3.7 (that's right, three point SEVEN) to even graduate cum laude. At UMSL, you need a 3.2. What the heck? I ended up graduating with a 3.47, which would have almost bumped me up to magna in the UMSL system, but is a full .24 away from even getting cum laude in the Mizzou world. And in GPA world, that is a LOT. Oh well. That's the way the cookie crumbles I guess. In any case, I graduated with Departmental Honors, which means I was entitled to the same amount of recognition and even the same medal as those that graduated summa cum laude. And I maintained a social life for the past 3 1/2 years. I think I got the better end of the deal.
Anyways. Graduating with honors meant that I got a special ceremony, at 8:30 in the freaking morning. But I also got a graduation ceremony in Jesse Hall, which is our main, fancy hall on campus. My other ceremony was held in the Hearnes Center, which really disappointed me, as it's just an athletic center. Not pretty at all. There were a total of 216 Honors graduates, which is a pretty big number for a December graduation.
My friend Julie and I before Honors Graduation
(the red and white cords are for Lambda Pi Eta, my honors society for Communications, Julie has gold and blue cords for her theater society)
Chancellor Brady Deaton speaking at the Honors Ceremony
After the Honors ceremony, I had a little down-time. So I went back home and decorated my hat!! M2 is short for Marching Mizzou, and it was only fitting that something I've spent so much time being a part of be represented on my cap.
I went to my actual graduation, which was only an hour and a half long, which was awesome. Like I said before, I don't actually have pictures, which is a shame. So instead, I'll just have to post pictures of Sean and I back at home (well, actually, at his house), before we went out to dinner. But first, some pictures of Sean's graduation.
The Man, The Myth, The Legend, Gary Brandes.
(Our high school band instruction, now teaches at UMSL, Sean's school)
The podium
He walked!! He looks so happy :)
And now, pictures of the two of us together
With our diploma-less cases. We won't get our actual diplomas for at least a couple of months, unfortunately. But they're pretty!
With my parents
With Sean's parents
So tired of smiling! But alas, it's done.
It's nice to know that I'm done with my undergraduate, and so is Sean. Sean's starting on law school applications, and I'm going to begin studying for the GRE in the next few weeks. I don't necessarily plan on going on to graduate school, but if a future employer is willing to pay for (or give me a pay increase for) a master's degree, I'll be more than willing to attend. And GRE scores are good for five years, so I'd rather take it now, while I'm still in the school mind-set. And who knows? Maybe I'll change my mind and decide to go back anyway. *shrugs* You never know, right?
We're having a graduation party in a little over a week, so the celebration is continuing. The future is coming, albeit about six months away. We'll find out where we're going, and all of the sudden, things will be full speed ahead!
My cap, tassel, diploma case, medal, and cords
The inside of my diploma case, without the diploma
And as a great, crazy man once, said:
Today is your day!
Your mountain is waiting.
So…get on your way!
Your mountain is waiting.
So…get on your way!
By the one and only, Dr. Suess
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