Oh, the places she'll go!!

It's official. My sister is a college graduate. She is the first person in the family to graduate from college within 4 years after graduating from high school. She graduated with a 3.9 GPA and stayed at one school from beginning to end. She did an amazing job, and I am extremely proud of her.

I've been to a lot of graduation ceremonies in my lifetime, including three of my own. I think the best I've seen was my undergrad ceremony at FAU. It was well organized and well-paced. Everyone got to see their child/brother/sister/significant other/friend walk across the stage. People got to take good pictures and could also buy good pictures afterwards. You'd think such a ceremony would be easy to orchestrate, but you'd be wrong.

My sister's ceremonies were horribly planned. There were two - one in the morning for the hooding (I've never heard of BA's getting hooded, but whatevs) and one in the afternoon for the diplomas. Only about a third of the class came to the morning ceremony.

Both venues were AWFUL. The sound was terrible, the lighting was bad, and the views were obstructed. At the second ceremony I almost had to throw down with some lady who tried to stop me from going up to the stage to take a picture of my sister.

I wonder why nobody planning these ceremonies realized that the MOST important part, for each person in that audience, is to see the person they are there to see and take pictures. There is no need for FIVE speeches, by various adults nobody cares about. And nothing means anything if you don't get to see your graduate. Particularly disappointing to me was that fact that this school has a HUGE performing arts department...you'd think they could at least organize a good show!!!

But, despite the downfalls of the ceremonies, it was a good weekend. I think my sister enjoyed herself, and my mom and I did well too. We had a couple of nice meals and went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. And, on my last night there, I had a slumber party at my hotel with my high school best friend, JC. We had a really nice night.

So, now my sister moves on to the next phase of her life - grad school in Miami. I hope she loves it as much as I loved law school. And I hope she visits me lots, since she is only 4 hrs away!!