Daniel's Graduation

So last Friday, May 11, 2018, Daniel graduated summa cum laude from the Colorado School of Mines with a degree in engineering physics. This past year, he has mostly taken graduate-level physics classes, along with the odd Shakespeare class and similar as he completes his humanities requirements. He has a research job on campus, and he just had a couple more papers accepted for publication. He will be going on to a masters in electrical engineering at Mines on an NIS grant. Most of his close friends are also staying on for masters degrees. His research job will become his masters thesis. He said he'd only been worried about one of his finals, which was for a graduate-level class in quantum mechanics. After some prompting, he eventually admitted that he'd got an A and come top of his class in that one. He has enough graduate level physics classes that he might be able to get a masters in physics as well.

Here is a stream of the ceremony:

The ceremony was very pleasant. It was held outdoors on a beautiful spring morning in the football stadium, surrounded by mountains and champagne air, and beneath the Mines "M", a letter embedded in a hill above campus. The President of the Student Council gave a poignant speech about her transformation as a student from her early struggles with insecurity into someone who finds purpose in interconnectedness and supporting others. The commencement speech was given by Harold Korell, who graduated from Mines 50 years ago and is a former CEO and chairman of Southwestern Energy Co. His speech was short and particularly pertinent to those heading out into the workforce. He assured them they would be very well prepared and that their education would give them many choices and hence great freedom. He also considered whether perhaps a graduate in the audience would one day give a commencement speech at Mines. He referenced a speech given 50 years before his own graduation by a Francis John McConnell, a Methodist bishop and social reformer, and reflected on McConnell's quote, "We need a type of patriotism that recognizes the virtue of those who are opposed to us." He announced that he has instituted two new traditions. Starting with this graduating class, every student's name will be inscribed on a brick in a campus building. Every student was asked to submit a prediction of what s/he will be doing in the future. These will be accessbile digitally so that people can reflect on them in future years. President Paul Johnson was ebullient, entertaining, and energetic, and kept the ceremony moving along.

It was a wonderful and memorable day. I am so happy that Daniel has found a field that he enjoys so much and that has contributed meaning and purpose to his life. Kind, brilliant, and unassuming, he is a gift to the world.