BYU Graduation 2016

Graduation this year was a big deal! Not only were Crista and Cameron graduating with Masters degrees, but it also marked the end of Jonathon's first year as faculty, first semester of teaching, and the first time that he got to attend graduation as a professor. This really felt like the graduation that he never got to attend.

 Jonathon received his PhD from Columbia in the middle of the Summer in 2010, and the next chance to walk at graduation wasn't until the next May. By that point, we were living in Layton, money was tight, and Jonathon didn't really have any interest in flying all the way back to New York for the ceremony. We decided to skip it, but I always felt a little bit of regret for not being able to fully celebrate his HUGE accomplishment and see him with his special robes and hood.

Fast forward 6 years, and he finally got to put on a robe and hood and attend graduation. All faculty are required to attend 2 graduations per year, so it was the first of many, many opportunities to don the outfit. Jonathon's department paid for him to wear a standard black robe and hood, but someday, I would love to see him in the official robes of Columbia University ($800 to buy... eek!) because they are pretty impressive.

 Hyrum was pretty excited to see daddy all dressed up too!

It was a proud (and LONG) day for the whole family, so we got the siblings together to take some pictures. It was so fun to see all three of them with their robes and special hoods. Countless hours of studying, loads of money in tuition, and plenty of determination went into each of those hoods, and it was definitely worthy of celebration. Cameron graduated with a Masters in Electrical and Computer Engineering, and Crista received her Masters in Business Administration.

The festivities started Thursday with the commencement ceremony. Then we had the opportunity to go to Cameron's convocation ceremony on Friday morning with the rest of the family. Jonathon had to attend his college's graduation as a faculty member in the afternoon, and then Crista's was Friday evening. Graduations are long and often fairly monotonous, but you can't beat hearing the announcer call their name and seeing them walk across the stage.

Worth it. What great accomplishments!