Wednesday, June 1, 2011

College Days: James Graduates!

I am so excited to share this blog post with you!  A few weeks back I took a trip to Southern California to attend James' graduation from Whittier College and it was such a fun-filled weekend! James is dating my lovely sister Andy and he invited us to join him for his graduation. We went to Downtown Disney, since we were so close, spent time with James and his family, met his wonderful grandparents who flew in from New Mexico and just had a really great time celebrating his accomplishments!

A litttle about James: He earned his Bachelor of Arts in Mathematics (which I think is really awesome because I am not too great in that department), he is super witty, is passionate about growing as a Christian, loves his family and Andy, is an extremely gifted student and football player, oh and did I mention he is my birthday twin?? Major awesome points right there, haha! It has been so great getting to know James over the past year, traveling with him, cracking jokes whenever we all get together and enjoying lots of great food (it's all about the food with us).

On our last day in Whittier, after helping James pack his things to move back home, he gave us a really special tour of his college, he showed us where he studied and tutored fellow peers, where students lived on campus, and various other spots that hold a special place in his heart. For me, as a first time visitor, Whittier has such a rich history and culture that makes me reminisce my days in college and how passionate I am about higher education. It is a private liberal arts college, much different than the state college I attended, yet retained its original values of "knowledge and academic innovation" rooted back to its Quaker founder John Greenleaf.

James told us a little about the college as we strolled through the grassy knolls, Whittier is the sister college to Princeton University, former President Richard Nixon was a student there, the gym on campus was used in the film trilogy "Back to the Future", their rival school is Occidental College, and how diversity has helped perpetuate the school's mission.

We had such a fun time on our tour of Whittier College, congratulations James on your accomplishments thus far, I know you are destined for success in the future!



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Center of Academic Success, where James spent many hours studying and tutoring
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Gym where Back to Future was filmed, this building is now the Art Department
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Murals on one of the dorm walls
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The Whittier College Student Center
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One last shot of us on the campus
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Some snaps from the graduation the morning prior, so proud of James!
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