Graduation, Take Three

On April 25, 2008, I graduated for the third time in my life, this time with a masters in business administration. I always knew I wanted to go back to school and get a masters degree, but I never really imagined it would be in business. I always pictured myself pursuing anything from neuropsychology to archaeology to marine biology. A lot of "ologies". :-) But in the end, this made the most sense for my life and I am absolutely glad I did it. Not only did it position me for the career I want to pursue, but I met a lot of great people and had a multitude of interesting, challenging, and fun experiences over the past two years.

My parents arrived Thursday evening and we grabbed a late dinner at one of my favorite places, Grizzly Peak. I also gave them a tour of the house since they had not been up here to visit yet this year. On Friday we went to a nice reception thrown by the Dean at the business school. All the students and their families were there, and luckily the weather was really nice - sunny and warm. My parents really enjoyed getting to meet some of my classmates and their families. It was catered with what I guess you would call heavy hors d'oeuvres. We were there chatting for a few hours before having to go back home to get ready for the big ceremony.




Unfortunately, Shannon had already left so she was not at graduation. So, it was just me, Mike, Eric, and our families and significant others at the house. John arrived and surprised me with a balloon and some beautiful flowers!

We started putting on our caps and gowns and those pesky hoods that no one could figure out how to put on correctly. Once I put everything on I really felt like a graduate! We probably spent a little too much time taking photos because we rushed out of the house right when we were supposed to be there (sheepish grin). But, luckily, about a few hundred other people were on the same timetable, so there was no problem once we got there. We still had a while to wait.



There were a bunch of people taking photos so that's why we are all looking in different directions in this photo.



All the graduates crowded into the halls of the Crisler Arena, where Michigan has its basketball games. We grouped together in our sections and started taking photos. I found some of my good friends and we all got in line so we could sit next to each other. It was extremely hot in the waiting area - we were all stifling underneath our polyester gowns. We were hoping it would be cooler in the arena itself, but no luck! At least after a while the air came on and it cooled a little bit. Anyway, after waiting in the holding pen, we finally processed into the arena with our sections.







My section was front and center! I was literally three rows from the stage, which was so nice compared to my undergrad ceremony. I always envied those graduate students who sat in the front! We had some time once we got in there to look around as everyone else filed in. I found my parents and John sitting in the stands.

We had several speakers and hundreds of students to go through, but the ceremony actually went by very quickly. Our speakers included the dean, our keynote speaker John Denniston from Kleiner Perkins, and several grad and undergrad student award winners. Overall, the speeches were very good, especially when compared to my undergrad keynote speaker. I don't know if any of you WM grads remember that speech, but it was SO boring! Mr. Denniston spoke about the greentech industry. I felt like the theme of most of the speeches was basically: be businesspeople with heart and passion. Don't just do something for the money, and have a life in addition to work. So all in all, a good message. I think my favorite speech was from one of the undergrads who wrote a cute Dr. Seuss-esque poem.

After all the speeches, they started calling each student by name to walk across the stage. It was run like a military operation! I guess those Operations professors made their money on that day since it was so efficient! After the PhD students, the evening MBAs, the executive MBAs, and the Global MBAs, they started calling the full-time MBAs. We went section by section, and so eventually they came around to my section, Section 4, and my row. I handed the notecard with my name on it to my friend Aaron and he called my name. Off I went across the stage, shook the dean's hand, and received a decorative Ross School of Business tile instead of the actual diploma. They shuffled us through a staged photo just off stage, and then back to our seats ("keep moving, keep moving!"). It went by so quickly! I guess it was pretty representative of the past two years in that way.

After hearing the rest of the MBAs and all the undergrads get called, the ceremony was over. I met up with my parents and John to take a bunch of photos and afterwards, the four of us went to a late dinner at the Chop House, the nicest restaurant in town in my opinion.

Here are some photos for your enjoyment!

The cameraman for the jumbo tron. I think I may have made it on there because he was pointing the camera right at me during the national anthem.

People processing into the stadium

The program and notecard that we wrote our names on for the announcers.

I spotted my parents and John in the stands. Sorry for the grainy image.

The hoods.

The dean

My friend Sach, giving his speech.

We had these weird long things under our regular sleeves that showed we were getting a masters degree.