Graduation Season

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Lifestyle

My children have each now collected a treasure trove of graduation experiences.  From nursery school through college x2!  I’m pretty sure there are more graduations in our future, but at this particular moment I am mighty proud -- just like Fred and Corey who shared their graduation pride over the last few days.

 

This past weekend my son graduated from The Clark School of Engineering at the University of Maryland.  He is now officially a Nuclear and Chemical Engineer!

 

Note to friends: at this point in my story, I tip my hat to Gotham’s own Hans Hanson whose magical discovery process drew the idea of engineering from my then seventeen year old son as we all sat around my kitchen table.  Eric (and his parents) had never considered engineering until that day yet it was perfectly suited for his strengths and interests. Eric never looked back for a moment – and here we are today.  With a graduate who is passionate about his chosen area and heading off to his dream job.  Thanks Hans!

  

But I digress.  I could go on and on -- and on -- describing my depth of pride and awe at my son’s accomplishments.  Take that as a given – of course, if anyone would like to hear more, I’d be happy to oblige and share graduation photos too.

 

Instead, I would appreciate if you would share a story from any of your own graduations – not your children’s, niece’s, nephew’s, etc. – your own graduation.    I ask because while I could describe to you in great detail, each graduation which “commenced” my children along their academic paths, I cannot remember any of my own.  Not high school, college, law school. None.  Of course, I remember a few of the post-graduation meals but not the actual commencements themselves.

 

Don’t get me wrong – I’m sure I graduated from each and every school I attended.  But I couldn’t tell you where the graduation took place, who the speaker was, whether it was a sunny or rainy day. 

 

Can you please share a memory from one of your own graduation ceremonies?  Maybe you remember the speaker? The weather? Who sat next to you?  Any detail please.  

Comments

Fred Klein

It was 1963 in the old Syracuse Archbold Stadium under a blazing sun and C.P. Snow was the (boring) Commencement speaker..
Tessa Marquis

My favorite was my High School graduation - which I didn't attend. However, we had to fill out a form for our Diplomas that had our full name on it. Since I have no middle name I wrote in "Zinjanthropus" which was the name of the oldest humanoid skull discovered at that time. The Powers That Be rather innocently had it calligraphed on my diploma, and my mother called me by that name for several years.
Ray Walcott

My wife and I picked up our diplomas in June of 2016. We took a long hiatus from school and eventually returned to be sure we had diplomas in hand prior to birth of our first daughter Madison. 17 days after becoming college graduates we also officially became parents. We elected not to attend the actual graduation ceremony but we will definitely live vicariously through our children when they walk across that stage one day!
Rona Gura

The speaker for my law school graduation was then Chief Judge of the Court of Appeals Sol Wachtler. He gave a great speech about how we could impact the future as lawyers. I remember being so energized and impressed by his speech, as were many of my friends. Then several years later he was charged with extortion, racketeering and blackmail. The charges stemmed from an affair he was having. It was such a disappointment for me and many of my law school friends.
Daniel Schwartz

I had my college graduation (Baruch College) held at the old Felt Forum at MSG (now known as the Hulu Theater). It was a sunny day if I remember but we were indoors. My Mom attended (Dad had passed away unexpectedly 4 years earlier). My best friend at the time who graduated from NYU the same year was in the audience with my mom. I was the only offspring of my parents to graduate college. My two older brothers had gone to some college but never finished. So it was a proud moment for my mom. I can't remember where we celebrated dinner but my best friend's family invited me to dinner at the Top of the World at the World Trade Center for his dinner celebration. It was the first time I ate there and the view was amazing of course.

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