Graduation!!

A lot of hard work went into my education, both by myself and Corey supporting me. It was well worth it though, as I graduated with Honors, Cum Laude, and am done with school for now! I am extremely proud of myself, for finishing, but also for keeping to what I started with. This is long, but it is mostly so I can remember for years to come. Sorry!

When I first transfered to Utah State, I was excited about my degree, and some of the faculty encouraged those of us with high enough GPA's to go for an Honors diploma. This meant that we would have to do about 15 extra credits worth of work in some classes more than the required ones, we needed to maintain a 3.5 GPA in our major, and a 3.2 GPA in the University classes. So, at the beginning of our classes, we would choose if we wanted to have that class be an Honors class instead of a regular class, make a contract with the professor to complete an extra project, paper, research, or some other approved form of work. Then at the end of the semester, we would have to turn in our work, the professor would sign off that we had completed it, and we would get an H on our transcript, meaning it is an Honors class. We did not have to do this for all of our classes, just on average one per semester our final two years. We also took two graduate readings classes (I think they should be called discussions instead of readings, but oh well.) and our final semester we had to sign up for our Thesis class. For our thesis, it could be anything we chose, and at first I chose to research the role of a Landscape Architect in zoo design, but was getting nowhere with it, so I switched my thesis topic in the beginning of March of my final semester (Everyone else had theirs mostly done, working on the final touches, so this was not a good time to switch!) and wrote about my travels in Italy and what I studied and learned there. It was much better, but more work in the long run because of the short time I gave myself! I nearly stopped the work towards the Honors diploma, but wanted to finish what I started, and why quit when the finish line is in reach?



Corey and I on graduation day. The gold cord signifies Honors, and I am wearing two pins, one signifying that I am in the Landscape Architecture Honors Society and the other one is the Honors pin.



My good friend Boyd and I after the all university morning ceremony. Out of 26 graduating in my degree, we were the only two to walk in the main ceremony. It was worth it!



The five girls graduating in Landscape Architecture. From left: Jane Robley, Me, Karly Adams, Misty Anderson, and Katie Bateman.



The whole gang that walked in the college ceremony. We are missing two who decided that they did not want to join us, so there are only 24 of us. From the very back row, left is: Professor John Nicholson holding the sign, Nolan Harper, Professor Mike Timmons, Shawn Hurst, and Kirk Dimond (looking into the distance). Center row from left: Chaz Schlange, W. Bryce Ward, Thomas Dunford, Jake Powell, Trent Stroud, Boyd Reschke, Curtis Jay Allen, Steve Ford, Destin Christiansen, Roberto Leo. Front row from left: Karly Adams, Billy Kaufman, Sean Hunt, Charles Brock, Brad Burns, Jane Robley, Katie Bateman, me, Misty Anderson, Kevin Jensen, Chris Astle.

We all became close friends, and this was the last time we were all together. We were missing Colter Valcarce and Shawn Bunnell. Fun times.



Me sitting amongst my fellow students waiting to go across the stage. My college ceremony has the largest amount of people, and we had to wait a long time.



I get embarrassed easily, but on graduation day, nothing could keep me from just enjoying the moment, whatever happened. Corey asked if he could do something that might embarrass me, so I said sure. He had the family (I brought a small army with me to celebrate - 17 people) make and decorate these large posters to display in the audience. I was so proud of all of them. They made such a scene! So I first saw it when I walked into the stadium. They would periodically raise them and make noise, but they really made a racket when my name was called for receiving my diploma cover. After I got my diploma cover and shook the Dean's hand, he made a comment about the noise and display my family made for me. I simply grinned and agreed. One of my fellow classmate's father took pictures for us as we received our diploma covers, but I have not received my picture yet, so when I do, maybe I will post it here. At least I have logged the momentous day for now!

Thank you to all those who made the effort and sacrifice to come. It was a long day, and I really enjoyed the support and company. Kurt, Mallory and Carson made a surprise visit as well and brought me flowers. I forgot to take pictures before they died, but I enjoyed them so thank you!