This past Friday, my sister-in-law, Katelyn, finished her Purdue career. She's officially an alumna of the Polytechnic Institute with a degree in Organizational Leadership. And she's available for hire, so if you've got an opening, give her a shout! I say she's my sister-in-law, and legally speaking, that's true. But, that hardly feels like the right term. If I'm doing my math right, she was five years old when I met her, just getting ready to start school. So it isn't a stretch to say I've watched her grow up, and I've literally watched her entire academic career. I didn't have any sisters growing up, so Katelyn is probably the closest thing I have to that. It's a bit of an odd mix, at least from my side. She's almost exactly ten years younger than me, so while I definitely consider her more of a friend and peer now, it wasn't always the case. Not that it was ever bad, but of course our relationship has grown and matured as she has. She has grown into a very fine woman who I have no doubt will find success in whatever she is called to do. I assume it's a natural reaction, but it got me thinking about my own graduation and those first years out of school. I graduated from Wabash on Mother's Day in 2008. It was a wet, dreary day, and it matched my mood a bit. I loved Wabash, I loved my time there, and I wasn't really ready to say goodbye to all the guys I had spent the last four years with. Still, it was an accomplishment. Normally, Wabash has their commencement outdoors on the mall, but the weather wasn't going to permit that for me, so I had to finish my career as a Wabash student and become an alumnus in Chadwick Court.* Which was fine, if a bit warm. But not quite the same dignified setting, you know? I mostly held it together that day right up until they had us turn around and find our moms in the crowd to honor them for Mother's Day and thank them for their support and love through our journeys. That one got me. Crawfordsville lost power later that evening, and we ended up eating at Arni's because they were one of the few places with gas ovens and still cooking. Power turned back on right after somebody made a joke and (if memory serves) Andrew clapped as he laughed it, which led to a new round of laughter as we said if we'd known Crawfordsville was just a big Clapper, we'd done that a lot sooner. *As it happened, Andrew also graduated in Chadwick. Everything was set up for an outdoor ceremony until about fifteen minutes before it was supposed to start when they told everyone to head to Chadwick, preferably quickly if they could. It was a bit of a madhouse of people. My dad and grandma ended up getting separated from the rest of us, but we all made it. Katelyn didn't have to worry about that, as Purdue has all their graduation ceremonies in Elliott Hall regardless. For what it's worth, the day started off a bit chilly and grey, but it bloomed into a beautiful spring day by the time we were all eating before the proceedings. Their ceremony is also ticketed. I attended illegally on Friday evening. We had six tickets and seven people. I was told there were theoretically extra tickets available at Will Call if I got there early enough, so I stood in the line and when I got to the door and had no ticket to scan, I just told the ladies that I was headed to the Will Call window, and they motioned me along and kept scanning tickets. At that point, I decided I was in and they were going to have to throw me out if they didn't want me there, so I hooked up with the rest of group and didn't hear a peep about it. Sorry if I disappointed you, Purdue. Another thing Katelyn won't have to worry about is entering the workforce in 2008. You might remember that was right at the start of the worst American economy in recent memory. You don't have to look very far to find lots of stories about wages that will never be recovered by 2007-2009 graduates, and I can personally attest those early years out were a struggle. Go back and look at the early years of this blog. I was still in the heart of that struggle when I launched this space. I don't know that I really got out of it until I started working at Purdue. While we can definitely have some pretty lengthy discussion over just how good and healthy the economy is today, I think everyone would agree that it is significantly better than it was back in 2008. So I'm hopeful that Katelyn will have a much smoother transition out of student life than I had. There are very few people I would wish that on, and Katelyn is most definitely not one of those people. I can honestly say she is one of my favorite people in the whole world. Whatever job she's looking to do, I hope she lands it and nails it. Or, you know, there's always marrying rich and popping out babies. I hear she's open to that, too. So, congrats again, Katelyn. I am glad your dream came true, even after having to take an initial redirect through Ivy Tech. I'm so happy to see the person you have grown into and the aunt you have been to Beth. Here in about twenty years, I'll be just as happy to see you standing with Beth when she is in her own robes about to walk across the stage to get her degree. Comments are closed.
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