Look Ma! I'm A College Graduate!

My graduation from NAIT was on May 8th. Despite the length of the ceremony and the fact we had to be there at 7AM, I'm glad I went. Out of the 11 people in my radio class, there were only 2 of us who went. And he's actually made the transition to TV (Sports reporter on Shaw TV - Jordan Greenly), so really it was just me. Because our class (and our TV counterparts) began our RTA (short for Radio & Television Arts...you hear that? What I do is considered an art *snort*) adventure in January of 2008, we didn't officially end our stint at NAIT until August 2009. So our convocation was in May 2010. Following me?

photo courtesy of http://www.cbc.ca/dragonsden

Arlene Dickinson from the Dragon's Den got an honorary degree that morning. In the afternoon ceremony, Olympic Curling Phenom & NAIT Alumni, Kevin Martin received his honorary degree. We gathered in the bowels of the Jubilee Auditorium at 7AM. We had our gowns pinned, so we looked the part, and proceeded to line up to being the procession of the graduands. Bag pipes blared, we walked, we listened to "Oh Canada", we sat, we listened to speeches, we clapped...then about two hours in, we got to stand up and line up back stage! This was our big moment! Man, I felt sorry for the girl trying to keep us quiet. (See the picture below - thanks to Jen Muranetz for the pic!) We're in radio and television. We get paid to talk. Haha, there's NO keeping US quiet. Especially since most of us hadn't seen each other in a VERY long time. A lot of them, I hadn't seen since April 2009. So we're lined up and we decide in true RTA fashion to be obnoxiously loud and cheer every single one of our grads on! The speaker announced our names, and one by one, we screamed our hearts out.
Finally, there's only two people in front of me. Mackenzie Marshall and Jenna McColl, both who are working at City TV in Edmonton. Mackenzie walks across the stage, and skips the handshake. Goes straight into the big bear hug! How could I possibly top that??

Why would I even want to? We all have a good laugh, and start cheering him on...then it's Jenna's turn. She's tucked everything but the kitchen sink in her bra...including her camera. She walks to the middle of the stage, and asks Dr. Shaw, "Can I get a picture?" He turns towards the professional photographer...she says "No, a picture!" And promptly pulls out her camera and takes a picture with him on stage, arm extended. You know, like the typical "self-photo"! So funny! So then it's my turn. Great! What do I do? I've got nothing prepared. So I do the lamest thing...I walk across the stage, laugh and shake his hand, and he tells me how he really 
looks forward to our group, because we're so dynamic! LOL! Great. After another hour and a half we are let out of the ceremony! By this time it's been close to 7 hrs since I've eaten and could eat a pigeon I'm so hungry. We all met at Earl's and caught up with each other, and it was really nice. I had a chance to hang out with a group of people I didn't really hang out with in college - mainly because they're all in TV - but it sure was nice. Excuse me, while I polish up my shiny NAIT Alumni pin