I did it!
Graduation was this morning. I was in the Saturday morning ceremony, so my family had to get up early and drive to Warrensburg for the ceremony. (Our school has 4 ceremonies: on Friday night, the graduate school ceremony; on Saturday morning at 10 am, undergraduates from the College of Business Administration and the College of Education and Human Services; on Saturday at 11:15 am, the Department of Nursing graduation and pinning ceremony; and on Saturday at 2 pm, undergraduates from the College of Applied Sciences and Technology and the College of Arts and Sciences. There is also and ROTC commissioning at 4 pm on Saturday.)
Anyway, we got up early, got dressed and drove to da 'berg. We got there 15 minutes before the undergrads were supposed to meet with the department, so I got my robe on and posed for a few pictures. Then I was off, while my parents left to find a seat and meet our friends who had come to the ceremony.
The graduation was nice. Our school has a fantastic music department, and our wind ensemble provided the instrumental music for the processional and recessional. It was really beautiful. There was also a professor with a beautiful baritone who led the students in the school song at the end of the ceremony. Excellent choice.
Our president, Aaron Podelefsky, is new - this is his first graduation - so I didn't know what to expect his speech to be like. He has excellent taste. It was a nice speech, with his own stories included, but not too wordy.
My family later laughed because they had problems with the sound. The President of the Board of Governors, who also spoke briefly, is a very tall gentleman. President Podelefsky, however, is... not. I'm guessing he's in the neighborhood of 5'5". Not a tall fellow!
One of the girls who sat next to me during the ceremony was entirely amusing in her stupidity. She's worthy of an entire post, soon. Suffice it to say, by the end of the ceremony I was wondering how she had managed to graduate...
After the ceremony I tracked down my favorite professor, Dr. F., who also happened to be one of the marshalls for the ceremony. Since my family planned on leaving town and not staying for any of the school-sponsored receptions, I wanted to thank her again for her awesomeness (is that a word) as a teacher. I found her, and she told me - 100% confirmation - that I passed my portfolio! Yay! I've had some confusion on this topic, so this was welcome news!
My family and our friends decided to eat out one last time in Warrensburg at our favorite Burgian restaurant - Mazzio's Pizza. What, are you surprised? It's a college town. Of course it's full of pizza places. We had an excellent meal. Afterwards we drove around and checked out a few sites for one last time in the 'burg, and it's been home sweet home ever since. Home sweet home, where I am relaxing and enjoying having nothing to do, at least for few days!
Anyway, we got up early, got dressed and drove to da 'berg. We got there 15 minutes before the undergrads were supposed to meet with the department, so I got my robe on and posed for a few pictures. Then I was off, while my parents left to find a seat and meet our friends who had come to the ceremony.
The graduation was nice. Our school has a fantastic music department, and our wind ensemble provided the instrumental music for the processional and recessional. It was really beautiful. There was also a professor with a beautiful baritone who led the students in the school song at the end of the ceremony. Excellent choice.
Our president, Aaron Podelefsky, is new - this is his first graduation - so I didn't know what to expect his speech to be like. He has excellent taste. It was a nice speech, with his own stories included, but not too wordy.
My family later laughed because they had problems with the sound. The President of the Board of Governors, who also spoke briefly, is a very tall gentleman. President Podelefsky, however, is... not. I'm guessing he's in the neighborhood of 5'5". Not a tall fellow!
One of the girls who sat next to me during the ceremony was entirely amusing in her stupidity. She's worthy of an entire post, soon. Suffice it to say, by the end of the ceremony I was wondering how she had managed to graduate...
After the ceremony I tracked down my favorite professor, Dr. F., who also happened to be one of the marshalls for the ceremony. Since my family planned on leaving town and not staying for any of the school-sponsored receptions, I wanted to thank her again for her awesomeness (is that a word) as a teacher. I found her, and she told me - 100% confirmation - that I passed my portfolio! Yay! I've had some confusion on this topic, so this was welcome news!
My family and our friends decided to eat out one last time in Warrensburg at our favorite Burgian restaurant - Mazzio's Pizza. What, are you surprised? It's a college town. Of course it's full of pizza places. We had an excellent meal. Afterwards we drove around and checked out a few sites for one last time in the 'burg, and it's been home sweet home ever since. Home sweet home, where I am relaxing and enjoying having nothing to do, at least for few days!
posted by Tidy Bowl at
4:28 PM
8 Comments:
Just think, in about 3 months or so, they'll start hitting you up for alumni donations!
I get 4-6 solicitations a year from my alma mater.
But it sounds like the typical small town college, almost like the one where I live now.
Now - about that job search. How goes it?
By
Michael Swartz, At
December 17, 2005 9:32 PM
I believe it, Michael! My sister is a graduate of the same university (she graduated in 1999), and since she hasn't changed her address with the Alumni Association, she gets the newsletters and flat-out requests for donations at least twice a month.
Yesterday, at the final conference, the Alumni Association made sure that they had our correct addresses. On the bright side, though, they did give us a free Tshirt saying "CMSU Alumni" and a pennant to hang on the wall that says "Proud Graduate of CMSU".
It is a typical small-town college. It's one of those schools where, if you live outside of Missouri, you've probably never heard of it. Small enough that there is at least some semblance of community, but large enough that there are plenty of departments (which came in handy when I changed my major as a sophomore!). CMSU was first established in 1871 as a teacher's college. It still has (arguably) the best education department in the state.
As for the job search, I have already applied online at www.moreap.net, which is this awesome website that a lot of school districts around the state pull job applications from. Translation: Fill out one job application, apply to just about every school district in the state. So all I have to do is write cover letters and send those, along with a copy of my resume, to the districts I am interested in working at. I've already applied at two districts. Next week I am planning to apply at the two districts I am really interested in. I'm also going to begin researching several other districts in the area.
By
Tidy Bowl, At
December 17, 2005 9:46 PM
You are correct in that I've never heard of CMSU. They obviously don't have a Division I football team. :) But then again, I'm from Ohio so you've probably never heard of schools like the College of Wooster and Shawnee State, or "my" Miami. (Everybody asked me, "why are you going to Florida for school?"
"I'm not, Miami's down in Oxford.")
Funny that you named your hamster after my college.
It's good that you have a way to get your resume out to so many places, but don't limit yourself to just a few districts. While I doubt that you want to teach in inner-city St. Louis or KC, I know the suburban areas of St. Louis are nice...I was just there over the summer visiting some of my relatives. And don't discount the Hannibal or Cape areas. One thing I've learned in this day and age is that you need to be flexible jobwise and in your stage of life (single and no kids) that's when it's easiest.
And you may find a change of scenery is a good thing, particularly with some of the other events in life that you've alluded to here.
Just some advice, take it for what it cost you to read it.
Oh, thanks for the comment on my blog. Glad you're now a reader.
By
Michael Swartz, At
December 18, 2005 8:59 AM
One other question...is the new blog template because you graduated and you're doing the "fresh start" thing? Just wondering.
Does make it a little easier to read for my aging eyes.
By
Michael Swartz, At
December 18, 2005 9:01 AM
The Berg? Is that the codeword for Burger King or something?
These next few days of doing nothing, I hope you occupy yourself with something worthwhile. Idle minds are indeed the devil's playground.
By
crallspace, At
December 18, 2005 11:24 AM
You know what I realized? If I had never made a comment on Michael Swartz or Drea's blog around the time of that WalMart movie spam... none of you would have any readers. Although, TB..I think it's a sympathy thing as to why they read your blog.
By
crallspace, At
December 19, 2005 1:32 PM
Welcome to the world of blogging, Crall...
I think you'd be surprised how many people read my blog because they are interested in what I have to say.
By
Tidy Bowl, At
December 19, 2005 1:50 PM
Sure... wow, I am convinced.
It shows.
By
crallspace, At
December 22, 2005 4:54 PM
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