college

Graduation Redux

Turkey’s college graduation was almost two weeks ago…today we decided to run it back!

When he graduated, we knew he had earned Latin Honors (summa cum laude, if you’re keeping track), but because he was a transfer student to UMSL his junior year, they had to wait for each of his classes to be finalized so he had the proper credit hours as a Triton to make the Latin Honors official. I won’t even start on how ridiculous it is that they don’t either require the professors to have those grades in prior to graduation, or simply delay graduation until they know which of their transfer students (a large percentage of the graduating class) have earned them, thereby depriving all of them the experience of having those honors read at graduation in front of everyone. OK, I started a little bit, and it is ridiculous…Bunny didn’t run into this problem when she received her honors as a transfer student to WKU at graduation last year. But he will have summa cum laude on his diploma, and today we drove out to UMSL to pick up his honors tassel in the school colors of red and gold (and took a few more pictures with it).

We did a replay of his graduation dinner of Ronto Wraps and the “High Republic Cordial,” from the new Star Wars: Galactic Drinks cookbook:

But I made a different dessert this time…since we’ve been in Chicago recently, I made a Portillo’s cake!

I’m still really frustrated for him (and the other graduating transfer students), that he wasn’t recognized the way he should have been at the ceremony, but as least he knows he earned the honors!

  • Bachelor of Science in Mathematics
  • Alumni Award for the Senior Math Student With Highest GPA
  • Summa Cum Laude
  • Dean’s List
  • Pierre Laclede Honors College
  • Accelerated Master’s Program
  • Phi Kappa Phi
  • Highest UMSL Score–MAA Putnam Exam
  • Mathematical Association of American Missouri Section Meeting Attendee
  • 2026 Graduate

The 2026 Graduate

It’s graduation day! Turkey received his Bachelor of Science in mathematics, which is just amazing to me…he knows and loves math so well!

Very early this morning, we all headed to UMSL for the graduation ceremony for the College of Arts and Sciences.

The rain held off long enough afterward for us to get some pictures:

And the traditional parents and graduate photo at home, of course!

Turkey picked Star Wars Ronto Wraps for his celebratory dinner:

And we toasted him with the “High Republic Cordial,” a sweet and spicy drink from the new Star Wars: Galactic Drinks cookbook:

For dessert, we had Biscoff cookie butter pie:

I’m so proud of all of Turkey’s accomplishments, and it was my joy and privilege to celebrate him today!

  • Bachelor of Science in Mathematics
  • Alumni Award for the Senior Math Student With Highest GPA
  • Summa Cum Laude
  • Dean’s List
  • Pierre Laclede Honors College
  • Accelerated Master’s Program
  • Phi Kappa Phi
  • Highest UMSL Score–MAA Putnam Exam
  • Mathematical Association of American Missouri Section Meeting Attendee
  • 2026 Graduate

The View From the Top

We have had a very exciting few days, because Bunny graduated from Western Kentucky University with a Bachelor’s Degree in history!

The actual commencement was on Thursday night, and began with the “Topper Walk,” the students’ final walk across campus as undergraduates:

The ceremony was held on the football field, and we got really lucky with the weather…even though there had been storms around the area all day, all we ran into was a few sprinkles, and it wasn’t even hot!

I was impressed with how organized and efficient the whole process was, and I definitely shed a few tears along the way!

Following the ceremony, we stopped by the “Big Red Bash” on the South Lawn…the highlight of the event was seeing the host himself!

On the way out, we saw Cherry Hall aglow in WKU’s signature red:

We were back on campus yesterday morning for the recognition ceremony for Bunny’s college…the Potter College of Arts and Letters. This is the event where each graduate’s name is read, and they receive their (fake) diploma.

Bunny received a special honor, which was worn in the form of a medal..the Top Scholar of the College!

This was another very organized event…they clearly know what they’re doing!

After we located Bunny, we took lots and lots of pictures, staring with the traditional grad and parents photo:

And then we walked around campus, taking pictures in all of Bunny’s favorite locations, plus a few I wanted to add to the list:

Bunny loves WKU!

One last stop outside the Alumni Center, which is now Bunny’s center, too!

  • Bachelor of Arts in History
  • Tourism Minor
  • Summa Cum Laude
  • President’s List
  • James H Poteet Award for “Outstanding Potential in Teaching and Research in History”
  • History Undergraduate Research Conference Presenter
  • Richard Troutman memorial prize winner for best overall paper at HURC
  • A.M. Stickles Award for a senior history major with an outstanding record of academic achievement
  • Richard L. Troutman Award for a senior history major with an outstanding record of academic achievement
  • Top Scholar of the Potter College of Arts and Letters
  • 2025 Graduate

Three Students, Three Colleges, Three States

I was thinking to myself the other day how funny it is that over half of my children are now in college, and they’re going to three different schools in three different states!

Triton Tuesday

Today is Turkey’s first day at the college to which he transferred! I got to go with him on Friday for orientation, and I had a fun time walking around the campus, meeting some of the faculty, and especially getting to see the mascot!

I can’t to see what the next two years have in store for him!

Parents and Family Weekend

This weekend, we got to visit Bunny for Parents and Family Weekend at her college! We’ve been there before, but it was fun to see some of her favorite things and check out where her classes are!

We got to go to “Donuts with the Dean” while we were there, visit the campus Starbucks (I think we’re calling it “Starbies” now), walk all the way to the top of the hill, and attend a volleyball game (we won!). It was a beautiful day, to boot, and we had a really fun time!

We even got to have Zaxby’s, which is a real treat for me!

The most special thing to me, besides seeing her (of course), was getting a picture of all the children. I know she hasn’t even been gone for a whole month, but I was really happy to get a new photo of the Fab Five together.

I’m not going to lie…Thanksgiving feels like a long time from now, but that’s when we get to see her next!

Away from Home

Today is Bunny’s first day of classes at the four-year college she transferred to to complete her college education. She’s already been away from home for over a week, and we miss her terribly, but we’re also very excited for the opportunities she’s going to have over the next two years!

Graduation Day!

The last two years just flew by, and today, Turkey and Bunny received their Associate’s degrees…Turkey an Associate in Science, and Bunny an Associate in Arts!

I enjoyed getting a look at the class banner while we were there:

It was a very nice ceremony…in addition to being on the Dean’s List all four semesters (they received a special blue tassel for that) and members of Phi Theta Kappa (the gold tassel, cord, and stole), not to mention Turkey’s Outstanding Math Student award for the 2022-23 school year, they were recognized for having a perfect 4.0 GPA, something less than 10% of the graduates accomplished. They have kept pace with each other from the very beginning!

We are all so proud!

Two weeks from today, I’ll be celebrating with the two of the them at Disneyland!