Congratulations to Grant the Graduate!
We are proud to say, our son Grant did a lot of things right.
He scored well enough on admissions exams to gain entry into the prestigious University School of Journalism (THE J-School) as a freshman.
He was able to land a job in Columbia that qualified him for in-state tuition, thus saving big bucks.
Grant made good friends, did well in his studies, gained experience by co-hosting a campus radio show and working as a student volunteer as KCOU Radio's Assistant Program Director.
He worked the broadcast booth as a sports commentator for some of Mizzou's football and basketball games.
He did an internship at KBIA, the National Public Radio affiliate, reading news stories during the airing of All Things Considered; his mother was very proud to hear her son's voice in the same space as Noah Adam's.
Of course there are many other things done in the name of journalism that I have no knowledge of - and to be certain many other college-life experiences which I do not need to know about now, but which may be revealed in the years to come.
Big sister Inga, flew to Dallas from Portland, OR on Thursday, May 14 and then we three drove the 573 miles the next morning to Columbia, Missouri to celebrate all of Grant's timely accomplishments.
Grant's girlfriend, Kaileen (a junior journalism major), joined us for the student favorite, Shakespeare's Pizza on Friday evening.
Big rain fell late that night on the hordes of parents and friends all packed into town for the graduation ceremonies. Each individual college/school scheduled a particular time slot for either Saturday and Sunday. The J-school was going to recognize Grant and the rest of his graduating class at 4:30 on Saturday.
We picked Grant up at his house 3 blocks east of campus and drove to the Mizzou basketball arena and settled in our seats waiting for the band to strike up Pomp and Circumstance. However, they started off the pre-pomp procession by playing the theme to Monty Python's Flying Circus. Grant eventually made his appearance with several hundred other J-school grads and took his seat on the arena floor.
As these things go, he made his way to the stage with his group of Broadcast students; his name was called, he strode across the stage, shook hands with the department chair, received his diploma cover [the real thing will come in the mail in several weeks], returned to his seat, had the dean confer upon all those present, "the honor and privileges of the degree which they earned", by the power vested in the dean by the University of Missour-a (and also by the University of Missour-i). Thus he gets a two-fer. Such a deal!
We joined up for a barbecue dinner at Dickey's restaurant (founded in Dallas) with the family and entourage of Carson, one of his housemates and good college friend from Chicago. Then it was off to a lounge featuring many international beers with Grant, us and Carson + his family and friends. Other graduating seniors, friends of Grant and Carson stopped by, and then the graduates decided to make a night of it without their families. So we all retired to our respective motels while the party continued on into the night in those hallowed and favored esoteric locals known to student population of Mizzou.
We three made ready and tucked into bed. However, this night Inga was ready for coexistence in a shared room with her parents with the day's purchase of ear plugs to dull the sound of her snoring parents.
We would all sleep well. Proud of Grant and his accomplishments and maturity over these past four years. Tomorrow, Sunday, will be a day of leisure tours of the campus and town for Inga and us. We leave on Monday morning.
I will continue to sleep well, believing with my heart and head that Grant has done well for himself and is in fine position to transition into "the real world".
We are proud to say, our son Grant did a lot of things right.
He scored well enough on admissions exams to gain entry into the prestigious University School of Journalism (THE J-School) as a freshman.
He was able to land a job in Columbia that qualified him for in-state tuition, thus saving big bucks.
Grant made good friends, did well in his studies, gained experience by co-hosting a campus radio show and working as a student volunteer as KCOU Radio's Assistant Program Director.
He worked the broadcast booth as a sports commentator for some of Mizzou's football and basketball games.
He did an internship at KBIA, the National Public Radio affiliate, reading news stories during the airing of All Things Considered; his mother was very proud to hear her son's voice in the same space as Noah Adam's.
Of course there are many other things done in the name of journalism that I have no knowledge of - and to be certain many other college-life experiences which I do not need to know about now, but which may be revealed in the years to come.
Big sister Inga, flew to Dallas from Portland, OR on Thursday, May 14 and then we three drove the 573 miles the next morning to Columbia, Missouri to celebrate all of Grant's timely accomplishments.
Grant's girlfriend, Kaileen (a junior journalism major), joined us for the student favorite, Shakespeare's Pizza on Friday evening.
We picked Grant up at his house 3 blocks east of campus and drove to the Mizzou basketball arena and settled in our seats waiting for the band to strike up Pomp and Circumstance. However, they started off the pre-pomp procession by playing the theme to Monty Python's Flying Circus. Grant eventually made his appearance with several hundred other J-school grads and took his seat on the arena floor.
As these things go, he made his way to the stage with his group of Broadcast students; his name was called, he strode across the stage, shook hands with the department chair, received his diploma cover [the real thing will come in the mail in several weeks], returned to his seat, had the dean confer upon all those present, "the honor and privileges of the degree which they earned", by the power vested in the dean by the University of Missour-a (and also by the University of Missour-i). Thus he gets a two-fer. Such a deal!
We three made ready and tucked into bed. However, this night Inga was ready for coexistence in a shared room with her parents with the day's purchase of ear plugs to dull the sound of her snoring parents.
We would all sleep well. Proud of Grant and his accomplishments and maturity over these past four years. Tomorrow, Sunday, will be a day of leisure tours of the campus and town for Inga and us. We leave on Monday morning.
I will continue to sleep well, believing with my heart and head that Grant has done well for himself and is in fine position to transition into "the real world".
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