I didn’t want to post this entry until today. Grades were posted for FSU, which made this news official. I am a graduate of Florida State University! In fact this semester was my best, being the only semester I managed to make the Dean’s list. Well, I better have, given the fact that I only went to school two days each week.
Before I get to the ceremony and all the jazz let me say a word about the 24 hours leading up to graduation night. You see, I had one last final to take on Friday before all was said and done. It was in Christianity in Late Antiquity. Granted, this was the class that I enjoyed most this semester and it is apart of my major, so it should be a cakewalk. But on the other hand there was a lot of information to have memorized for the test, and it was also worth 30% of my final grade. The smart thing to do would have been to study a little bit each night of exam week, attend the informal study session on Wednesday, and get a good night sleep on Thursday night. That would have been really smart, but when have you ever known me to make the smart decision? Instead I chose to close out my college career with one last all-nighter. Thankfully the union computer lab was open 24 hours during exam week because I didn’t get home until about 3:30 AM making a comprehensive study guide. This was some intense stuff. I think I’m still going through caffeine withdrawals as a result of that night.
I woke up at about 9:30 AM, so I did actually get six hours of sleep. I had some breakfast, studied a little more, and made my way to my class at 12:30 PM. The exam wasn’t easy, but I was prepared. I ended up getting a 92% on it, which was far better than the class average. Let’s hear it for cramming!
I got out of that test in about an hour. I called my parents, who were in town with my two grandmothers, and made arrangements for the rest of the evening. First on the docket was to go get photos taken in front of Westcott fountain. It’s just one of those things you’re supposed to do as an FSU grad. The ones taken with my camera came out pretty well. (I’ve got them posted up on Facebook. If you scroll up to the navigation bar, click on photos, then click on the Facebook icon you’ll see them.) This was all pretty rushed because we had “dinner” reservations for 4 PM. Why so early? Because the graduation ceremony started at 7:30 PM. So we had a good dinner, albeit a little rushed, and headed over to the Civic Center.
Once inside, while going through all the various lines to get all that I needed, I ran into all kinds of people. First was Josh Kelley, who is the only other guy Nav who is graduating this semester. Next it was Logan Crouch, who was in the same Bible study as me back in freshman year. Then Shawna Brooks, to whom I gave my two extra graduation tickets. And it just kept going like that. I kept seeing people that I knew, or at least had known, throughout the course of my four years. That’s when the finality of what was happening began to set in. All these faces, all these lives, we were all together for the last time, and we were all about to be sent out into the world. It’s a lot to try to wrap your mind around.
The ceremony was as advertised: long. I took my seat at 6:45 PM and didn’t leave the building until close to 11 PM. Yeah, I stood up a couple of times, but mostly it was sitting and listening. Well, I was sitting and listening. A lot of the people around me were either on their cell phone or plugged into their iPod. Must have been some playlist. While sitting I did manage to find my family in the audience, sitting up in the nosebleed section. One thing I had been a little hacked off about was our guest speaker. He was a former FSU football player. Now before you say, “It figures,” let me at least build up a case for him. Not only was he good, a member of four Steelers Super Bowl teams, but he was also a force on campus, bringing about a lot of social change in his day. Now granted I would have rather had Tom Brokaw, who was the guest speaker for the Saturday ceremony, but at least the guy we had wasn’t just some bum as I had originally thought (though his speech was a little incoherent).
The college of Arts & Sciences was the last to be brought up. When my row was making its way up to the podium I saw three more people: Jessie Ray and Liz Sprayberry awaiting their turns and Lindy Davis up in the audience. I think that’s when I started smiling. I don’t know why I hadn’t been smiling before, but when I saw that they were excited it made me excited. I got up to the front, gave the announcer the card with my name on it, walked across the stage as my name was read, shook a couple of hands and went back to my seat. No, I did not get a diploma; grades from this semester weren’t in yet. That’ll come unceremoniously in the mail in a couple of weeks.
The rest of the ceremony seemed to drag on forever, especially the part when the doctoral candidates received their hoods. Actually there was one cute thing about that: there was a married couple that were both receiving doctorates, in different fields, that were hooded at the same time. When all the rest of the degrees had finally been passed out T.K. Wetherell, the president of the university, gave a closing speech. And that was it. Graduation was over. College was over.
But the night was far from over. After a few more shots of me in my robe with the family I went back to Kellum Hall for my last night as a resident in a dorm. I could have chosen to spend the night with my parents in their hotel room, but two things brought me back home. I wanted to see some people for the last time and I still had a lot of packing and cleaning left to do. I spent about an hour talking to Andy, then praying with him, then another hour or so with Jessica and Courtney. After finishing most of the big jobs I went to bed at around 3 AM. I woke up early to complete all that was left. At 11 AM I checked out of Kellum. You know, I wasn’t sad during the ceremony but I was sad when I stepped out of Kellum for the last time.
After a few long days of hustle and bustle I was ready to relax for a bit. I had lunch with the family before my dad and his mom had to leave to go back to central Florida (my dad drove her up). My mom, my other grandmother and I went back to their hotel room to relax. I ended up relaxing for a little too long, missing the first half of the graduation party at 210. That was actually a really fun party. I got to meet some parents that I probably otherwise would not have met. And any time spent with my friends at this point is precious since I don’t know much about my future yet.
Speaking of which, I’m still in Tallahassee! From now through May 13, that is. After that I’m not sure. I’ll have to come back at least once to get all of my stuff that’s in a storage locker. But these two weeks spent here after graduation are to hunt for local jobs. I figure if I’m going to even make an attempt to stick around in Tallahassee for another year I need to spend some serious time applying for jobs and hopefully getting interviews. I think I’ll have at least one interview next week as a result of a connection made through Rob Hodges. We’ll see what else develops. While I’m here I’m staying with Derek Guffin at his place and driving Andy’s car. God really provided a lot in the eleventh hour for this all to work. In addition to filling out job applications I have been spending more time in the Word and reading the book Trusting God by Jerry Bridges. I’m excited to see what results from my time here.
There are a lot of people close to me that need prayer right now. Amaris is headed off to Italy to study abroad, with others in our community also about to leave the country. Kim Connelly and Katie Aronin are trying to raise funds for summer trips. Sweet Joe’s mom is battling what could be (hopefully isn’t) more cancer. That’s been another cool thing about this time here: I’ve had more time to pray, for these people, for others and for myself. I’m asking you, my readers, to join in and pray for these people and for me.
So yeah, a lot has happened. I don’t think I’m going to fully understand everything that has happened in the last week and a half for a long time. It just hasn’t all set in yet. I think it’ll be the same way regarding what happens over the next week and a half. I think God and I are going to be wrestling a lot between now and then. Based on all that has happened already and the decisions I hope to make soon these three weeks could be some of the most life-shaping weeks of my young life. It’s a little scary, but it’s really exciting.
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