You've Said it All

For those who aren't familiar, when you say Wisconsin, you've said it all. I'm not kidding

And it's true. I LOVE this place. Commencement exercises were this past weekend (so I'm officially a graduate!) and I can't really describe it, even 36 hours later. So, here's the story.

For a bit of background, I wasn't terribly excited about this whole "walking" thing. I've been to a college graduation before. It was boring. I listened to an unimaginative speaker blather on about how life was pointless - I'm not kidding - and then they read names. For an hour. BUT, the one thing that got me through it was seeing my sister graduate. So that made it worth it. At any rate, I wasn't pumped for this at all, and at a few points I was considering not even doing it.

As it turns out, our Chancellor is hilarious, the Provost is a riot, and I have a ton of friends that walked with me that I didn't even know were going to do it. Seeing them was a real treat. And then I got to walk and give whole Kohl Center a "go an' brush ya shouldas off" look via Jumbotron when they handed me that coveted red diploma holder (the real deal shows up in the mail 12 weeks from now...blergh). I got to see my parents and family thrilled, happy and excited. I got to sit next to John, a roommate I will miss terribly. I got to joke around with Mike, a classmate from the ol' Hilltop and a perennial source of smiles. I got to sing Varsity one more time and John and I belted that out louder than I think either of us ever have, football games included. Then, they played You've Said It All (colloquially, "Bud"), and I lost it. I hopped up on the chair I was standing in, fist-pumped the whole way through it, and wore one of the biggest smiles I have ever had.

And why not? I'm so excited about MCW, but at the same time, this is home. I love this place. Our speaker James Kass talked a bit about his experiences in Madison. I, too, lived on both lakes, walked the many miles through the snow between tests, went to 5th quarter (although the Badgers were at least better than they were in 1991), laid in the sun on Bascom, locked myself in cages in the library, sat for hours on the terrace - I, too, love this place.

I'm very fortunate. My parents paid my tuition. Taxpayers built the facilities I used every day. Professors and administrators fought tooth and nail for the grants that enabled me to perform my research. My professors spent hours editing and refining to give me the best they had. My classmates pushed me to do more. Many of them became my friends, and a few of them have changed my life in ways that I can't begin to enumerate (and not just due to my illiteracy, it's more than that). I'm going to a great medical school for my dream position, and SO many people here at UW made that a reality for me.

Maybe one of the best things of the day was having lunch with my family and then running around campus with my mom taking pictures in all my favorite places. I'll be home later this week, so expect pics then, but in the mean time, believe me when I say they are good.

Bottom line: I'm in a very happy spot. I graduated from a world university with honors, and am headed to a very enviable program to pursue my dream as a physician-scientist. But more than anything else, with this comes great commitment. I have a moral obligation to the public, my family and myself to make something of this. And that, my friends, is the great joy that stands before me.

U!
Rah!
Rah!
Wis!
Con!
Sin!