Carson's Graduation!

The week of Carson's graduation was not a pretty one. It rained Tuesday through Saturday and we felt that for sure his outdoor graduation on the Quad at John Carroll would be moved indoors to the Wolstein Center at Cleveland State University. The call for what to do in case of rain was going to be made on Friday at noon, but ended up being pushed to Saturday because the seniors really, REALLY wanted to graduate on the Quad and the weather forecast said Sunday would be nice. So they ended up making the decision to have graduation at John Carroll after all, but warned everyone about the mud. 

And then Sunday turned out to be beautiful, and everyone forgot about the mud (although my chair sank into the ground on one side). Carson's parents and I went to church in the morning, and left right after the sermon in order to get to the campus for the ceremony. Carson was already there for rehearsal. 

We found seats right by the walkway where the graduates entered, which was great for seeing Carson then, although we could see NOTHING during the ceremony itself. 

Here's the processional. 635 or so undergraduate students and 212 graduate students.

Carson spotted us, all ready to get that hood around his neck.

Our friend Cherise, who wouldn't look at the camera, got her Master's in Education.

Faculty

So...this was our view. We could hear everything the speakers at the front said, but we also heard the super loud older gentleman behind us complaining about the mud... loud and clear.

Here's a picture of the ceremony that I found on John Carroll's Facebook page.

There he is! Master of Arts in Religious Studies

And here's the best picture I captured, with help from cropping in a bunch. Sometime soon, I think pictures of the graduation will be online to purchase. We clapped as he crossed the stage, but he was so far away that he couldn't hear us. There were so many people that even loud cheers and clapping sounded very far away.

 Master's Degree students got their diplomas first, so Carson was finished about five minutes after they began reading names. We convinced him via text to get up and leave, as many other students were doing. A few pictures were captured when he got up and joined us. 

The white velvet on his hood is for Arts and Humanities. The gold and blue are John Carroll's color and the sleeves have a funny bell shape on them.

I was surprised that they put a real diploma in there. With all those names they had to call, I'm not sure how they didn't get mixed up somehow. 

And I had to document the result of the muddy ground. Not too bad, and I'm thankful I wore something with a platform or I'd have been toast. 

We went to Melt to celebrate the graduation. Carson and I split "The Dude Abides", which had homemade meatballs, fried mozzarella cheese sticks, rich marinara, provolone & romano

  

Carson's parents split the "Mom's Meatloaf Dinner" which was described as homemade tender meatloaf, chipotle ketchup glaze, garlic mashed redskin potatoes, fried onion straws, muenster cheese

After Melt, we returned to the school, where the graduation was over and people were mostly taking pictures in front of the sign and other campus landmarks. We took a family picture with Carson back in his gown. 

And a picture of part of the sea of chairs. We were all thankful to not be the people who did set up and tear down. 

We came home and Carson and his parents all napped. 

I had to wake the graduate up just in time for his celebration cookout in the backyard. 

Spoiler alert: Carson won this round.

 After the party, a few friends stayed to eat ice cream bars and chat. Once they had gone home, we FaceTimed with Trent and the girls, back in Pennsylvania. 

And Carson got a picture with his diploma. 

Yay! He's finished! Two years of school felt like nothing now that we're on the other side of it. I'm so proud of Carson and his dedication to his studies. He loves what he does and more than earned this degree. On to the next!