It’s 5:30AM. We were all ready as planned to make the drive to Southern Methodist University (SMU). We quickly found out as we parked in the Moody Garage, we were not early, as we had thought. Each member in our entourage lined up for the doors to the Moody Coliseum to open at 7:00AM. Who goes to a graduation commencement this early? Friends and family of the 2015 graduates at SMU do!
This was the centennial effect in action. This past weekend marked one hundredth celebration at SMU. It was a special graduation on many levels. The 43rd President of the United States- Former President George W. Bush gave the commencement address. Our youngest daughter graduated from SMU, concluding our family college journey. The past four years went by too fast!
As each facet of the day’s celebration went by, I realized though our family college journey has come to an end, our “village” has not. Rather, our “village” has grown and continues beyond what we could have ever imagined. You see, our youngest daughter-Lade (meaning God’s Crown), was also having her own centennial effect. She came to see the fulfillment of the desires God placed in her heart as an engineer after four years of hard work. Lade is twenty years old and this past Saturday, graduated cum laude with two bachelor’s degrees in Mathematics and Mechanical Engineering, minor in Art, and master’s in Systems Engineering. As her parents, my husband and I know without a shadow of doubt that the only way Lade was able to successfully carry such a workload in four years was through the divine endowment of the Holy Spirit.
We also know that God blessed her with extraordinary support in her professors, mentors, faculty, friends, campus pastors, and peers. We are deeply grateful for the village we have been privileged to have. Though God entrusted Lade into our care as her parents, our village at SMU ensured that the gem God placed in her, was extracted, acknowledged and utilized. For example, Dr. Hugley-Cook was a relentless guide for Lade being a National Boren Scholar. Ms. Starke’s motherly care of PS students. Dr. Raad’s encouragement to maximize her potential. Dr. Willis’s for seeing Lade’s potential and mining them out. Dr. Krueger, Lade’s fluid mechanics professor who held a high expectation of all students. Dr. Richer, for going above and beyond to ensure Lade understood the core of the content. Dr. Borzova, for her care and humor, that helped lessen missing home. Dr. Hurmuzlu for been down to earth. In fact for every person, God placed in Lade’s entire path not only at SMU, thank you for all your investment. Her world is brighter because of each of you. Thank you for the global opportunities SMU provided. Thank you for four years of full ride scholarship as a President’s Scholar. We are grateful and thank you seems so little. Assuredly, Lade and her peers are leaving SMU full-tank, ready to put into action the mission of SMU: “World Changers Shaped Here.”
“This is the LORD’s doing; it is marvelous in our eyes” Psalm 118:23
This was the centennial effect in action. This past weekend marked one hundredth celebration at SMU. It was a special graduation on many levels. The 43rd President of the United States- Former President George W. Bush gave the commencement address. Our youngest daughter graduated from SMU, concluding our family college journey. The past four years went by too fast!
As each facet of the day’s celebration went by, I realized though our family college journey has come to an end, our “village” has not. Rather, our “village” has grown and continues beyond what we could have ever imagined. You see, our youngest daughter-Lade (meaning God’s Crown), was also having her own centennial effect. She came to see the fulfillment of the desires God placed in her heart as an engineer after four years of hard work. Lade is twenty years old and this past Saturday, graduated cum laude with two bachelor’s degrees in Mathematics and Mechanical Engineering, minor in Art, and master’s in Systems Engineering. As her parents, my husband and I know without a shadow of doubt that the only way Lade was able to successfully carry such a workload in four years was through the divine endowment of the Holy Spirit.
We also know that God blessed her with extraordinary support in her professors, mentors, faculty, friends, campus pastors, and peers. We are deeply grateful for the village we have been privileged to have. Though God entrusted Lade into our care as her parents, our village at SMU ensured that the gem God placed in her, was extracted, acknowledged and utilized. For example, Dr. Hugley-Cook was a relentless guide for Lade being a National Boren Scholar. Ms. Starke’s motherly care of PS students. Dr. Raad’s encouragement to maximize her potential. Dr. Willis’s for seeing Lade’s potential and mining them out. Dr. Krueger, Lade’s fluid mechanics professor who held a high expectation of all students. Dr. Richer, for going above and beyond to ensure Lade understood the core of the content. Dr. Borzova, for her care and humor, that helped lessen missing home. Dr. Hurmuzlu for been down to earth. In fact for every person, God placed in Lade’s entire path not only at SMU, thank you for all your investment. Her world is brighter because of each of you. Thank you for the global opportunities SMU provided. Thank you for four years of full ride scholarship as a President’s Scholar. We are grateful and thank you seems so little. Assuredly, Lade and her peers are leaving SMU full-tank, ready to put into action the mission of SMU: “World Changers Shaped Here.”
“This is the LORD’s doing; it is marvelous in our eyes” Psalm 118:23
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