Graduation Weekend Re-Cap - One

Ok! I have a very quick re-cap of my graduation weekend! My Aunt & cousins arrived Thursday evening & we enjoyed a delicious dinner with the family all together. We woke up early on Friday morning to get ready for a day spent running around town & over at EU.

We started by stopping by our reception and rehearsal dinner venues. Seeing them again made me really excited for all of the planning I still have to do! After stopping at the venues, we made our way over to EU. I did a quick tour of the campus for my Aunt & cousins so that they could get a better idea of what a southern private university campus looks like. We stopped by some of the key buildings on campus including the main quad, the business building, the communications building, & of course my sorority house!

After the little tour we all made our way over to the Communications building (where I spent most of my time at EU) for a little reception held by the School of Communications where the graduating students could get together with their professors and say some goodbyes. It was really nice to talk to my professors & discuss future plans with them. I ended up with an "A" in my senior seminar course which I was pretty sure I was going to get a "B+"...Professor Gaither shown to the left of me in the picture to the left was my professor for that class and one of my favorite professors during my time at EU. It was also really nice to catch up with one of my sophomore year professors, Janna Anderson & a good friend & classmate of mine, Joe (shown in the picture to the right).

The reception was really lovely, but at around 3 we made our way to the Koury Center for the Baccalaureate ceremony. The speaker was excellent & I really enjoyed hearing a few words from our commencement speaker as well. After the ceremony we made our way back to town for an evening dinner on the patio of a local restaurant. The food was fabulous & I really enjoyed spending time with my family! I even broke out my new Lilly dress from Ruelala!

Saturday morning I was up at around 5:45 am to get ready for graduation. We had to leave super early so my dad & brother could save us good seats under the oaks! After waiting around in the "holding area" for about 45 minutes, it was finally time for us to make our way over to the graduation ceremony. The weather was PERFECT -- warm, but a light breeze & very few clouds in the sky. One of my favorite parts of the ceremony was walking through the line of professors & speaking with them briefly before walking out onto the middle of the stage & down into graduate seating area. After a wonderful commencement speech it was time to receive my diploma! M. met me at the bottom of the walkway just before I went to the top to graduate to give me a quick kiss -- & in a VERY quick moment I was finished!

My favorite part of the ceremony is our President's address to the graduating class. He finishes his address with the phrase "Long Live Elon" which the graduates reply loudly, "Long Live Elon!" I literally get goosebumps everytime I think about it! After the ceremony I processed out to the fountain area & met with my family for some pictures. Again, the weather couldn't have been MORE PERFECT! I was so pleased that it didn't rain!!! My other favorite tradition that Elon has is that when you are a freshman you receieve an acorn at your freshman year convocation -- after you graduate you receieve an oak sapling -- this is supposed to represent your growth as a person & student. FABULOUS! I am really looking forward to planting that sapling somewhere special!

I was also really excited for my graduation day because M.'s parents were able to attend. It was so special that my future in-laws were there to celebrate this big day in my life. I am so blessed to have such an amazing future family -- I wish they could have stayed longer!!!

Next post I will share a few pictures from the party my family had for me after graduation! I hope everyone is doing well & I hope to be back to normal commenting & reading very soon!!