Yesterday was my Ph.D. commencement from the University of Michigan-and also the first major snowstorm of the season! Some of the other universities in the area canceled their commencements, but the U-M bravely carried on. Some of the roads were very bad, as they hadn't been plowed yet, but others were okay. The parking lot of Crisler Arena had been cleared very well. Since we had given my mentor Kate a ride, we were able to park in the reserved area very close to the building. 
I was very bummed in the morning when I realized that none of my family or friends from out-of-town (and even most of the in-town ones) were going to be able to make it, but it turned out to be a very good day. 
Besides Brad and Caitlin, Jacki was able to be there since she came in on Wednesday. Other friends that were able to make it through the conditions were: Kate, Alisha, Martha, Melissa, Todd and Henry, John and Lee Anne, and Alexander and Alexandra. There was certainly plenty of food and cake for all! 
Of course, Saturday and today (Monday) were beautiful days, but Nature has her own plan. At least Caitlin got her wish and today was a snow day at school, so she got to sleep late.
Why do the shortest people always seem to be seated next to the biggest? Here is my mentor Kate with her seat mates.The ceremony got started about a half hour late because of the weather conditions and only about half of the reserved seats for the graduates were filled, but it turned out to be a great graduation.
This is Kate and me during the hooding part of the ceremony.
As my mentor, Kate put the Ph.D. hood on me for the first time just before I received my diploma.
I even got to meet Francis Collins, our commencement speaker and the head of the Human Genome Project at the NIH. He and my mentor Kate were colleagues when he was a Professor at Michigan, and she got his autograph on a program for me. After the ceremony, Brad caught his attention and asked if we could take his picture, and mentioned that I worked on NF1 (one of the genes that Dr. Collins cloned while he was at Michigan). Dr. Collins asked me "Are you Therese? I just autographed a program to you for Kate". 
Then he graciously posed for a few pictures with me and talked with us for a few minutes. It was quite exciting for me to meet him and he was an extremely nice guy.
He is also a great speaker. He gave the best commencement address I have ever heard. After talking about some of the usual topics, he said that it is always important to keep a sense of humor, too. After telling us that he could not lecture on humor, he said that he would show us, instead. Then he pulled out his guitar and sang a song that he had written to the tune of "My Way". The song was not what you would expect from a man of his renown and stature! It was hilarious and brought down the house... I don't think any of us will forget that speech, unlike all of the other commencement speeches I have heard. I had my camera with me and taped each verse of the song separately. If you are interested in hearing them, I uploaded them to YouTube. Here are the links...
intro
verse 1
verse 2
verse 3
last verse
4 comments:
So glad you had some of the family and friends there to enjoy your day and to celebrate with you. Mark and I were really bummed that we weren't able to make it up. I started worrying on Friday when they began forcasting snow. By noon on Saturday it was still clear so I was hopeful. Then, about 2 pm it started and the weather channel said it would get worse before it got better. If we were younger we might have been foolish enough to try but the older I get the more timid I become. I was up at 4 am and it had turned to rain so I thought "gee, maybe we can make it." Then when I got up at 8 am the wind was wipping around and the snow was flying. So, I'm really sorry we couldn't make it up there to enjoy your day but we were thinking about you. Look forward to seeing you on Sunday and we will toast to your success!! :)
Thanks, Jan. It really meant a lot to me that you were planning to come, but the weather had other ideas. Like I said, it really turned out to be a good day despite the storm's wrath and its resultant effects. See you all this weekend!
Yay! Congrats, Congrats again. Thanks for sharing pictures. So sorry we couldn't make it. We look forward to seeing you this weekend.
I'm so glad I flew in a few days early. So proud of you, Mommy!!
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