Campbell Alumnus... say whaaaat?! :)

This week was one of those weeks that you want to hit rewind and replay over and over again, just to make sure it is etched in your mind. It was Campbell's graduation weekend, and my first week as a Campbell alumnus, and it was wonderful to spend time with family and friends.



On Friday, my mom, dad, brother Kevin, Uncle Mac, and Aunt Debbie came,and the graduation festivities began. We spent about two hours walking around the campus, and even got to see some of the pharmacy graduation. We all went out to eat at Blessed Restaurant, and my buddies who had been there last time were there. The little old man was trying to set me up with one of the young men who was eating in there. Clearly, neither one of us was interested. It was cute though. And the food was scrumptious!



The baccalaureate service was on Saturday morning at 10. Only three Social Work majors showed up, which wasn't too much of a surprise. It was actually kind of nice to have a more intimate service. Provost Greene gave the message, and it was great. He talked a lot about the life and teachings of Jesus, and he is certainly a scholar when it comes to that topic. I thoroughly enjoyed it, and wish I had a tape recorder to record what he said.



After that service, Wee, Travis, and Pawan came over to hang out at my apartment. Wee had come to see some of us graduate all the way from New York City! Talk about a dedicated friend! It was so so fun to see him and catch up.



After that, I made my way over for graduation. Before we all walked into the convocation center, we were in the McCall practice gym area. Hand sanitizer was provided for everyone to prevent spreadage of the swine flu, but no water. Kind of ironic, haha. However, the time inside the gym was so wonderful. I saw people that I haven't seen in over a year, simply because our paths haven't crossed. I also got to sit with all of the Social Work majors, which was fun. Amanda Haynes, my roommate from my freshman year, was sitting right beside me. She was with me my first day at Campbell, and she was with me on my last. We came up with an ode to the class of 2009, and Luke Morales was sitting in front of us, so he taped us reciting it. We also did some crazy dance moves and made a few funny jokes. I'll never forget that-so fun!



The graduation service itself was long (almost 4 hours), and there was quite a bit of speaking, but it was at least interesting. I didn't pick up my diploma because I had received honors, but it is in the mail, and my name is spelled correctly. In the program I was Diane Elziabeth McClary. How do you misspell Elizabeth? Oh well. The important part is that I graduated and I got to see my friends walk across the stage!



It was also fun to take pictures with friends outside of the Convocation center after graduation! I got a picture with Alicia Jones. I was the first person she met when she came to Campbell and we worked at Mundo Vista together and have become great friends this past year.



After graduation, I went to dinner with my mom, dad, Kevin, Uncle Mac, and Aunt Debbie at Sagebrush. We had a blast! I am so thankful they were able to come up and see me graduate. Their support and love mean more to me than I could ever express.

After dinner, I went to a party at the Patty Tate that Luke, Donald, and Graham hosted. It was so much fun! We had a bonfire and roasted marshmallows and just hung out with each other without a care in the world. I can't say that I am especially close to some of the people who are there, but it made for even more interesting conversation. I love meeting new people!

Sunday was Mother's Day, so I went out with my family to celebrate. The morning of, Abigail, Luke, and I went to church together. Luke and I also went to home fellowship at Grace, and it was so great! There were only 6 of us, so we had a more intimate conversation and I really learned a lot from everyone's perspective. Those kind of discussions make me even more excited about starting divinity school! :)



Monday, I got a Macbook for graduation. The guy at the Apple store was a hoot. He spent an hour giving me a tutorial. When I told him that I hope he got a bonus for all of the help he had given me, he said "Nope, we don't get commission. I just wanted to help you out. It makes it a much nicer place to work, believe me." I also had a chance to go grocery shopping with Robyn and hang out at the Happy House for a bit before heading back to the Creek. I am going to miss her so much this summer.

Tuesday, my mom came to help me move more stuff out of my apartment. I have determined that I own way too much stuff and it is time to seriously weed out the unused items. Yet another summer project. :) Thankfully, my friends Ben and Jesse came again to help me move some things out. It was so nice of them to do that! I am so so thankful to have great guy friends like them.

Today, I had the opportunity to go over to the Carrie Rich Memorial library and just read. I also found most of the books that I will need for my first semester of divinity school, and checked them all out. Summer reading, here I come! I also downloaded the new Sandra McCraken CD today. It is brilliant! I have been listening to it all day. She really is such a talented musician. I can only hope to be half as good as her one day.

Tomorrow, I have a meeting with the Residence Life Staff about freshman programming for next year. Should be fun! Then I will be heading over to a press conference at the convocation center. Campbell is making the old switcheroo back to the Big South Conference after almost twenty years of being in the Atlantic Sun conference.

I can't believe the past four years are over. My friend Dusty posted this on her facebook status today, and I thought it was fitting and want to share it: "Don't cry because it is over. Smile because it happened." :) The culmination of activities, conversations, and thoughts in the past four weeks have been the PERFECT end to those four amazing, fantastic years. Seriously, I could write a book about it. Every day something else happens and I think "Yes, another chapter in the book!" I am going to work on writing out those thoughts soon.

For now, I just have to reiterate how thankful I am to have graduated magna cum laude with a Bachelor of Social Work degree from a wonderful university, and to be able to say that it was not myself that accomplished those things, but rather the Lord working through me. He deserves all of the praise, for sure!