Graduation - May 6, 2011

"Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world." - Nelson Mandela

On Friday, May 6, 2011 I graduated from Dixie State College.  Well, rather, I walked.  I have until July to finish the last of my online classes through BYU Independent Study and then I will officially be graduated.  My sweet sister-in-law, Kristen, graduated with her Associates as well and it was so fun to share the day with her.  Thanks to a nice kid in my program, I was able to score two extra tickets to the excellent commencement ceremony where President Monson was our guest speaker, so Burke, Mom, Dad, and Grandma Ellsworth were all able to come, as well as my in-laws with Krissy's tickets!

Before the ceremony started there were some girls in my program talking and one of them was being very snarky about President Monson being the guest speaker.  She complained that they shouldn't mix religion with academics.  I was rolling my eyes, thinking about how she obviously was either ignoring or ignorant to the fact that DSC was founded by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and President Monson was the guest speaker 35 years ago, when suddenly the other girl surprised me by saying, "Ya know, I'm not a member of the LDS church, but I think we're really privileged to have him speak to us.  After all, if the Dalai Lama were here, I'm pretty sure you'd be excited to hear advice from a wise world leader and wouldn't think twice about the fact that he is also a religious leader.  President Monson is a powerful man and we're lucky to hear him."  That quieted the other girl down right away and I felt so grateful that this young lady would stand up for President Monson despite not being a member of the LDS church herself.

President Monson is such a phenomenal speaker and he absolutely stole the show with his expressive face and inspirational stories.  His advice as we entered the real world was to build bridges of attitude, integrity and service.  Each "bridge" was accompanied by a story, poem or quote and helped prove the point that each of these three things would help us live honorable and successful lives.  It was so neat to feel of his spirit and to heartily applaud him after he said "amen."  His daughter, Ann M. Dibb of the General Young Women Presidency was also sitting just a few yards away from me and it was sweet to see her supporting her father.  Sometimes I forget that the leaders of the church are fathers, husbands, and grandfathers - real people! - and it was nice to be reminded by watching her, watch him.

After commencement, they broke us all up by colleges so that handing out diplomas wouldn't take forever.  However, once we got to the building for "Arts and Letters" we found out that they were going to have several performances from the music department, a literary reading and a short scene by the theater department.  The musical numbers were nice, but the theater scene was so flippin' weird!  It had nothing to do with graduation and they swore and talked about sex in it!  I was so embarrassed thinking of my sweet niece and nephew in the audience and wondering why on earth they would perform such a dumb scene.  Sorry again for the awkwardness family!  After what felt like ages, I finally walked across the stage with my HUGE belly making me look like Humpty Dumpty and received my diploma.  It was so nice to have all my family there supporting me and I am happy to have accomplished what I set out to do five years ago.  

I have grown quite a bit over these past several years and I feel like this diploma is a physical manifestation of many of the intangible lessons I have learned.  Although I will be pausing my formal education for a time to devout my efforts to motherhood, I hope to be found continually seeking to further develop my mind and talents in a never-ending quest to be well educated.  Here's to life-long learning!