Graduation Weekend

Dr's Melissa Nevin (Family Med), Elly Riley (Family Med), Nancy Stewart (Internal Medicine, Me (Otolaryngology/Facial Plastics), Kimberly Irvin (Emergency Medicine)

Remember back . . . Melissa is one of the ones I went to Mexico with after our first yr of med school, Elly and I went to the zoo with Isaac recently, Nancy is newly married and her pics are in this blog, and I was a bridesmaid in Kim's wedding 2 years ago =)

Well, I'm finally posting about graduation. I graduated from Kansas City University of Medicine and Biosciences on May 16th. Isaac and I got to go down to Topeka a few days before so that we could spend a little more time at home. Graduation stuff took most of the week and it was fun to see my friends again! We had an awards ceremony on Friday, the 15th. Fortunately, my parents and Steph were able to attend. My dad works in Dallas now due to his job changing locations so now he works in there and my mom still has to work in KC. So my dad drives home every weekend but he took Friday off to go to the ceremony. I knew I was getting an award b/c my family got an invitation to come but didn't have any idea what it was. What a surprise! I received the President's Award which was a really nice honor and the Outstanding Senior award. My greatest award of the year though has definitely been having a little bubba to share it all with = ) Mike and I are just so blessed to have him in our life. Mike came down the night before graduation (late!!).

The graduation day was really special and meaningful. The best part was convocation in the morning. The greatest speaker was a student from our class who has actually graduated from seminary as well. His speech was about how all of this is just pomp and circumstance but the real importance to our medical career is not the now, it's what we do with it for the rest of our lives and the people we can help by having this gift. It was extremely motivational, humbling, and completely appropriate. A great way to start graduation and reflect on what's really important. I appreciated having some quiet moments of prayer and reflection during convocation to think about the four years, how things have changed during that time,a nd look forward to the future. And give thanks to God for making this all happen. The graduation processional was nice and very long. We were all hooded and clapped for individually which made for a 3.5 hr ceremony but all very professional and nice.

We had a party at my parents house that night. I was so lucky to have my family and a few friends show up!! I imagine that I won't be back in Topeka for another year or so, so it was nice to see everyone. I only get 2 weeks of vacation and one week is Christmas and we are probably staying in Grand Rapids and the other week Mike and I will probably need a vacation together to give us the opportunity to see each other!! So we always would love to have visitors, we miss Kansas a lot =)

Isaac did great on the planes. It's harder now that he's older and wants to explore everything but we made it. The plane got in at 12:30 AM though so it was a long day for both of us getting there. It was a lot easier when we went home b/c Mike could fly back with us.

Enjoy the photos!

Weaver Auditorium on our campus

Kimberly Irvin (EM), Me, Jamie Hinkle (Pediatrics)

Isaac got these "Future D.O." scrubs from some of my friends at SOMA (Student Osteopathic Medical Association). So he had to wear them to the party afterwards.