ASU Graduation

Jim graduated from ASU this week. He received his Master's Degree in Information Management from the college of business. It was a one year intense program and spent 16 hours at ASU for instruction time and many more during homework with his group. He worked very hard at school while working full time. He was a very busy man and made a lot of sacrifices to get this degree. He did very well and maintained a 3.4 grade point average. We are so proud of him.

On Wednesday, the university had their commencement where President Obama was the guest speaker. When Jim told me that a guy named Barrack was going to speak at his graduation, I thought that Jim wants me to think it's the president but it's really a classmate. I was pleasantly surprised to hear that it was President Obama coming to speak at the ASU commencement. I don't agree with Obama politically, but I wanted to go and see him speak and bring Josh and Dani along. We had to arrive at the Sun Devil stadium early so everyone (71,000 graduates and guests) could get through security. It was a hot day and we had to ditch our water at the security entrance. We had to buy water once we entered the stadium to keep cool. The water cost &5.50 - &6.00 a bottle - crazy! We found our seats in the shade and began our 4 hour wait until the graduation started. I was so glad that I brought Josh and Dani with me to keep me company. Jim's parents came a couple of hours later and his dad bought us a lot of goodies, which was our dinner. ASU put on a little show for us while we waited. It was great show which ended with Alice Cooper singing the school is out song. It was ironic because most of the graduates had a final the very next day, including Jim. The university had their commencement early to accommodate Pres. Obama. We saw Air Force One fly over the stadium. We knew when he arrived when we saw the snipers and a tad bit of his motorcade. His speech was very inspiring and not too political - my kind of speech. It was so awesome to be there that day. They didn't get him and honorary degree which caused a lot of controversy but was gracious in his speech about it. He stayed to shake hands with the 250 graduates who earned their doctoral degree and those kids who earned the scholarship in his name. The kids had a great time, but were anxious to go home after Obama's speech. I made them wait until they officially graduated Jim and then we left. It was a great ceremony!

Jim and the kids before the big event

Alice Cooper singing with his son's band. His son attends ASU.

Some of the graduates. They waited until they were in shade before they put on their robes because of the heat. It was an awesome site to see.

Here is Jim with a couple of classmates. They did a lot of group activities, so his classmates became good friends.

Here is a picture of Air Force One flying over the stadium. The airport is very close to ASU, so we watched the sky for any signs of his plane. The upper seats got a real good view as it flew by.

I had to get a picture of the snipers. We watched them and knew that the president would be arriving soon.

Here are a couple of good pics of the President. These two pictures were taken my camera, so you tell we had a good view of him, except when he was speaking. The podium was blocked by the speakers, so I had to take a picture of him on the teletron.

Jim sat with the business college instead of the graduate college. They had better seats and sat in the shade longer, so they choose to sit there. Who could blame them? When the ASU president asked the Master's candidates to stand, there were only 4 in the section, which makes for great pictures for me.

We got to celebrate with Jim 6 hours later. We seperated shortly after passing through security and met up with him after the ceremony. It was so great to see him!

We went home using the light rail. We were able to get good seats and saw Grandma and Grandpa at the next stop. Dani gave up her seat to Grandma and sat on her lap. The light rail was so busy and we were so lucky to run into Grandma and Grandpa who left before us. They waited until President's motorcade to go by and open up the light rail to get on. Since the light rail runs right next to the stadium, they closed it until the President left. It was awesome that we ran into them.