Graduation is final

As most of you already know I finished my Communication degree in December, but it didn't feel official until after today. Getting all dressed up in my cap and gown and walking across the graduation stage as they called out my name made it all feel official. Today was full of waiting around, talking to friends, and listening to people talk.
It was fun to see all of my classmates again and see who actually did graduate. I thought there would be more PR students graduating, but there really were not many of them that did this semester.
Public Relations is a newer four year degree at UVU and when it first began a couple years ago there weren't many people who majored in it, so I have had all the same classes with the same pr students for the past 2 years. We have all worked together at some point or another and helped each other to get to this point in our lives; graduation. It will be interesting to see the directions that everyone takes with their careers.
Unfortunately my family was unable to attend the graduation, so I had to take advantage of taking pictures myself and having friends take some for me. Luckily my best friend Dave and a friend from my ward Lindsay came to support me today. It was nice to have them there. They also helped me to get some good pictures.
This graduation was a milestone for my school, because it was the first graduation of the school since it became a university nearly a year ago. To help celebrate this event the first presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was in attendance. President Monson was the commencement speaker, and he and his wife were honorary degree recipients.












President Monson iterated 3 guiding points: 1) Glance backwards and thank those who have helped you learn gratitude and realize the valuable lessons of life while you live them. 2) Reach outward doing service to get rid of your ego, and use your education to help others by lifting and inspiring them. Lead, don't mislead. 3) Press forward in your career and never stop educating yourself. Don't just keep up; keep ahead. Life is like candid camera; it's not going to wait for you to pose. Your strengths are always greater than your weaknesses. People tend to focus on their weaknesses, but rather should focus more on their strengths, because they are always going to be your greatest attributes. Don't just be a dreamer, but be a doer. Vision and work equals success.
These are all true principles, which is what the gospel teaches. (Thanks Dave for taking notes for me)

While I was waiting in the hallway downstairs for the commencement to begin, I saw President Uchtdorf in the hallway, so I hurried to get my camera and got a picture with him. He's the second counselor in the first presidency. He is one of my favorites, because he is a retired 747 airline pilot from Germany and flew for Lufthansa. I love aviation and he has so many great stories to share about tying aviation stories in with gospel principles. He’s a really nice guy and I love his accent which reminds me of Governor Schwarzenegger’s accent.

It’s good to be done with school for now, but I don’t think I will feel like it was valuable until I am able to find a job that allows me to use what I learned.