The graduates and faculty ringed the SDC Multipurpose Room as they anxiously awaited the time to march into the Wood Gym. "We'll begin to move at precisely 10:30," said Marshall Pat Joyce, professor in the SBE, over the loudspeaker.
Patrick Kuntz was getting is ME-EM degree and beginning his career close to his home. He'll be working for Flint Hill Resources in South Saint Paul, Minnesota, but not right away. "I'm going out to Montana to do some snowboarding," he smiled.
Lyndsay Wyatt will be using her applied ecology degree with the Oregon Department of Forestry. The Jenison, Michigan, native will be working in timber sales and wants to go to graduate school, perhaps at Tech. "I'll go wherever life takes me," she said.
Finally, Huan Zhang is heading to Florida to work for an "ISIT company with a long name that I don't know how to spell," he said. He'll be applying his business degree taking in data and "making it easy to use, on web pages and elsewhere online and managing all that data." He, too, wants to pursue graduate school, and the MBA at Tech is in the running.
When the two lines finally entered the Wood Gym, some graduates were looking for their names in the commencement programs, finding them, and smiling. I spotted some students I knew: Cara Deforge was a student teacher in Chassell. Joel Vertin did many web pages for our department.
"Hey Uncle Jeremy," some youngsters hollered from the balcony, and Uncle Jeremy waved back. Many digital cameras captured the graduates' last walk at Tech, some family members and friends ran up to the front of the line to shoot them up close.
The commencement speaker, Susann Blake Nordrum '86, began by quoting many other speakers, "They say, 'I'll keep it brief,' then they don't. So, I'm not going to say that."
And, she kept it brief. Quickly acknowledging her work with the UN's climate change panel that allowed her to share the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007, she focused on three points for the graduates to keep in mind: look for good in other people, take the lead in your life, and take time to stop and think about what's going on.
Jason Cousineau '98 was honored with the Outstanding Young Alumni Award and also kept it nice and brief. The ME-EM grad recalled his days at Tech and anticipated a trip down Mt. Ripley later.
The presentation of degrees was next, and the many shout-outs and cheers personalized each one—a constant from commencements past.
So, why bittersweet? We lost a couple of incredible Tech people in the last week.
Bill Gregg, associate professor of geology, was one of those truly great teachers who was a joy to work with, and he really loved his work. Completely devoted to his students, both undergraduate and graduate, he epitomized the Tech educational experience for thirty years.
Tanya J. Klain '90 also passed away this week. She remained totally involved with the University: recruiting graduates for GM, going to the YES! Expo in Detroit each year, coming back to Houghton to help the Alumni Association and the ME-EM department several times a year. And she was a devoted mom and wife.
So, some sadness hung over the University this weekend. But, if those women and men graduating needed role models, there were two great examples who were, and will remain, omnipresent.
***
Snowfall Totals
Total 46.5"
On Ground 14" (and lots of nasty wet snow coming down Sunday)
Last Week
Total 17"
On Ground 6"
Last Year
Total 51" (Copper Harbor and Painesdale: 80")
On Ground 24"
Grant
Wickman, Class of 2020, pulls his own ticket
for a
