Graduations remembered

May is the month for graduations. This year in this family it's Brandon's and mine. Brandon will graduate from Bridgewater-Emery on Saturday, May 21. Since he's the youngest, this will mark the last high school graduation for me, but probably not the last graduation. Jessica just completed her sophomore year at South Dakota State University. Brandon is yet to decide where his post-high school education will take him.
Graduation is a time to look both forward and back. It can be an exciting time with college just ahead and an uncharted future. And a time to look back and thank those who helped us get this far. But I'm not going to preach. I'll leave that to the commencement speakers.
Somewhere I still have a picture from my high school graduation. Classmates Dan Wagner, Ron Dexheimer and me in front of the Alexandria auditorium, ready to accept our diplomas and get on with life. Ron and I were heading to SDSU; Dan was bound for Mount Marty College in Yankton. As I recall, I finished 9th out of the 44 members of the Hanson High School Class of 1973. A solid "B" honor roll student. And, being seated mercifully by name, I was somewhere near the back of the class on stage, where I could fidget and daydream without attracting much attention.
Then four years later came graduation day at SDSU. Can't say I remember much about that day other than it was a graduating class of probably a couple thousand. That was also the day I was commissioned a Second Lieutenant in the United States Army.
Then just 10 days ago, on May 7, I entered Frost Arena at SDSU to receive my MS in Journalism/Mass Communications -- thanks to an understanding wife, the Post-911 GI Bill, and a desire to give myself a competitive edge. Ironically, I sat in the last row -- in fact, the last person of the last row, seated among mostly other graduates who were easily young enough to be my children.
But it was an extra-special ceremony. Barb and our friend Heidi Swanson of Seward, NE were there. Ironically, the guest speaker -- former two-term South Dakota Governor Mike Rounds -- was a fellow 1977 SDSU grad. Conveying the degrees was SDSU President David L. Chicoine. But even more special for me was the presence on stage of my friend and former boss, Jerry Jorgensen, dean of SDSU's College of Arts & Sciences. "Dr. J," as I fondly called him, was a fellow officer and friend from the 5043rd US Armed Forces Reserve School, and later my commander in the 2nd Battalion 361st Regiment in Sioux Falls. I worked for Jerry both as a Reserve soldier and then later as a government civilian for our Army Reserve unit. Jerry's referral letter helped get me into SDSU's graduate school, and he's still listed as a reference on my resume. And as I left the stage with degree in tow, I got to shake his hand. That meant a lot.
Good luck, Brandon, as you cross the stage on Saturday. It would be interesting to see -- 34 years from now -- how you recall this day. I hope it's the first of many memorable and rewarding achievements for you.