ULM graduation 2010

Graduation at ULM went off without a hitch on Saturday, May 22, 2010. Melanie, Lydia and I went early to secure seats and it was a good thing we did or we would have been standing....OR sitting in the nose bleed section. The place was packed. Six to seven thousand people were there to see the 757 graduates do their thing. There were many degrees given. All seemed happy with what they got. We were very impressed with the fact that 757 degrees were given out, 757 hands were shaken, very few speeches were given and all of it happened in under 2 hours. It was an amazing feat to achieve. Kudos to the administration for that. I think the traffic jam afterward kept us longer than the actual ceremony.







And even though graduations are very long, I love every bit of it. I love the Pomp and Circumstance, the marching in, the majesty of the ceremony, the funny hats, the gowns, the sashes......it's all fantastic. You can almost feel the sense of accomplishment in the air. Some of those people had worked for years and years to receive all the regalia on that day. It was definitely a day for celebrating what each person had achieved. One of my favorite things is when the Provost stands at the microphone and he says to the president, "I present to you the candidates for the Bachelor's degree in Business." And then the president says, "By the power given to me by the blah blah blah......I confer upon you the degree of Bachelor of Business." (Or whatever degree the person got). It's serious...it's formal.....it's wonderful....and I love love love it. And then the switching of the tassels......and the tossing of the hats.........oh wait.....they didn't toss hats! I was so disappointed! I had taken multi practice pictures to make sure I would get excellent hat tossing pics and then my bubble was completely busted when no hats were thrown.......sigh

But history was made that day by the attendance of Billie June, first college graduation attended ever. And when Dale rolled her into the arena, he made a beeline for President Cofer, president of the university, where he introduced her to him and she promptly told him she was Mollie and Emma's grandmother.......not country AT ALL! There was no security there to swarm the two of them and they were not escorted from the building. I was thankful for that. But afterward there were many pictures taken and more celebrating to be achieved. It was a really fun and fantastic day.

So shocking.....someone was acting a fool! And I'm not referring to the girls in the background!






And Emma felt the need to be in all of the final pictures.



All in all it was a memory well made.