You May Call Her "Master"

Kim entered Gonzaga University with every intention of earning a degree in Biology. But soon after her arrival, she changed course. Perhaps that was the best decision for her, because she is damned good at what she does now. Write and edit publications.

At any rate, she furthered her studies, and last month, received a degree in Communications & Leadership at her alma mater. I was honored to accompany her on that commencement weekend. Our trip started with a puddle jumper, a propeller air plane that I hadn't flown in since I was a student at Gonzaga myself, eighteen years ago! I was afraid I'd get air sick, but it turned out to be a smoother, QUIETER flight than on a 737!

It was a trip (no pun intended) to see the Cascade Mountains from this perspective after eighteen years. Ever since I moved to the west side of the mountains, I've frequented them for hikes, mountain bike excursions, trail races, ski days, and drives to the other side for camping trips, Bloomsday, and once for a Jewel concert at the Spokane Convention Center.

The first thing we did when we got into downtown was to have breakfast at an old haunt, Perkins Restaurant. We frequented this restaurant for their breakfast menu served all day and night, and their endless pots of coffee to help us get through cramming for finals.

Then we checked in to our hotel, the Davenport Tower, a branch of the historic Davenport Hotel. It was decorated with a Safari theme, which Kim detested!

We shopped at Safeway, the go-to store for on-campus students to get Chinese food and snacks and "pop" to stock their shelves and dorm room fridges. There was a time when the "cube" case of pop was very popular. Kim's pop of choice then was Pepsi. She bought three cubes (that's seventy-two twelve ounce cans) of it, and consumed it all in three days!

Safeway is the very same store that I took Kim on a midnight shopping spree for napkins and Fruity Pebbles. [Read about that here.]

Since we had a car, we drove to Coeur d' Alene (CDA), ID just for kicks. I'd only been there once before. But apparently Kim had been there several times when she was at Gonzaga. We sat on the seawall for a while, talking about the annual Gonzaga Freshman Cruise, on which she met her now close friend, and recently degreed MD, and then had a nice lunch at an Asian bistro just across the street. Before going back to Spokane, I strolled through downtown CDA for the very first time.

That very evening was Kim's graduate commencement ceremony.

The atmosphere throbbed with excitement from the students, and pride from their families. You know it's a very important event when professors don lavish robs and silly hats to signify their accolades.

Even Count Dracula made an appearance...

And you know it's a Catholic institution when you see a crucifix in the gymnasium.

Unlike my undergraduate commencement ceremony eighteen years ago, bagpipes played for this one.

Finally, after almost an hour of speeches, the presentation of the degrees ensued.

President McCulloh, Vice President Killen, by virtue of the authority vested in Gonzaga University by the State of Washington, I have the pleasure of presenting to you the candidates for the degrees in the School of Professional Studies.  The following students will receive a Masters of Arts in Communications and Leadership degree...

GO KIMMIIIIIIIIIIIIE!

A PhD graduate is called a doctor. An MD also. So what's a Masters of Arts graduate called?

I guess you may call Kim a Master!



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