My Daughter: The Graduate!

Yesterday Sarah graduated from Auburn Mountainview High School.

She graduated magna cum laude, which earned her the right to wear a silver cord, and was also Department Student of the Year in graphic design, which earned her the right to wear a blue cord as well.

I didn't get any distinctions read after my name when I graduated. Of course I didn't deserve any. Sarah did.

Her graduation from high school was the culmination of 13 years worth of hard work. The late nights of hustling to get a project finished before it was due the next day. Her projects were typically much more in-depth than the minimum required by the teacher, and therefore took much longer to complete. She was very detailed and took a lot of pride in all those things.

Last year was when such diligence became very apparent to me as a parent. That was when she started getting accolades from various teachers, and winning awards for various things. Her designs were being chosen for various things in the school, such as poster designs, t-shirts, etc. Last year was also when she won her first formal award--When the Mason's Lodge presented her with a small cash scholarship award.

This year there was much more.

This was the year she won her big scholarship. She won continuous acceptance of designs for various things around the school. Her name is even on the inside of the graduation ceremony booklet for the cover design. When she won the Department Student of the Year award, she was actually up for two of them: The graphic design department, and the art department. When that was found out, one of them had to go, so the teacher reluctantly withdrew her name from the art award. Graphic design is really Sarah's forte' anyway. She's going to go places with it. Okay, I'm finished gushing.

It was a great day for a graduation ceremony. Usually when there is a grad ceremony here it's either bordering on rain or sweltering hot. This year it was in the low 70's with a nice little breeze. I walked over (I live practically next door) and was about an hour early. Apparently I got there just as they had opened the gate, because there was a rapidly-disappearing line of people going in. I was glad I got there early because that place fills up. I mean really fills up. When I got there I really had no idea where to sit because there were two groups of empty chairs below for the grads to fill when they arrived. Which group would Sarah be in? I had no idea, so I just chose the first one and sat. I tried to figure out where best to park my ass so I could get the best pictures of everything that was going on. Apparently I chose pretty well. The crowd of people never stopped coming in. I kept an eye out for my mom but never did see her. I did see her when she was leaving after the thing was over, so she apparently beat me into the gate. Funny I didn't see her. I saw Teresa and her dad and brother come in though.

I was glad I had my long lens, because that was what I used mostly. I got some pretty good shots, all of which are now posted on our picture site (the link is over on the right) under the People category. There are many, many shots. I couldn't tell where Sarah was because I was shooting all the way across the football field so I just kept shooting. I knew she'd like to see them later anyway. As the grads formed two lines across the way to parade by twos to their seating area, it became apparent that I had chose well. There was Sarah across the way, and as usual, near the end of the line (the last name in the W's syndrome). She ended up sitting practically right in front of me! I caught her eye right away after she sat down, getting a big smile from her. She kept scanning the crowd (hence the concerned look on her face much of the time) for her mother, but never found her.

After the graduation ceremony, we made our way back to her house where we had a nice party in her honor that her mom set up. It went off very well. Lots to eat and drink and we all had a great time socializing. I just wish my wife was there. I missed her. Teresa had a few displays of Sarah's work set up, and I took a couple of pictures of that. I didn't include them on my picture site, so I put a couple here below:





As usual, none of these pictures do her art any justice. My favorite? The Bird of Paradise in the first one. It was all done with dusty pastels from a teeny 2-inch picture she found on the web.

Goodbye, Mountainview High School--Hello Pacific Lutheran University. Congratulations Sarah!