The Graduate

Vickie is officially a Valpo graduate!  Welcome to the club!

Nate, Vickie, Me, and Billy after the ceremony

Billy and I were happy to have the opportunity to return to Valpo this past weekend to meet up with the west coast family in order to celebrate Vickie's graduation.  Having her attend our own alma mater has been a lot of fun for me these past four years; I watched her enjoy many of the same experiences I did while also taking on many more responsibilities.  In the past year alone she has served as the President of the Student Nurses Association, Group Coordinator for Valpo Overnight Visits, Tour Manager for the Admissions Office, a consultant in the Writing Center, a member of the Dance Ensemble, a DJ on the campus radio station, and a member of the medical team that traveled to Central America on a spring break service trip.  Her intramural team has also done something mine was never able to do-- beat out the sorority teams to win the yearlong points award-- and they've done it three years in a row!  

Vickie with Mom, the VU Class of 2010, Vickie has had enough photos, Vickie with Dad and Judy, 

Vickie amongst her nursing classmates

In addition to all of those extra-curricular activities, Vickie also completed her nursing coursework, so she was awarded her Bachelor's of Science in Nursing!  Being six years ahead of Vickie in school meant I had left home before she started racking up accomplishments in high school, so as an older sibling, it was a lot of fun for me to be able to go back to Valpo to celebrate such a major accomplishment in her life.  Spending time with her on campus made me realize that while we both attended the same university, she made her own space and her own impact there in ways that make me really proud.  While I spent more of my time searching for the perfect beer pong partner, writing lesson plans, and chasing sorority girls off the elliptical machine, I think it is a testament to the environment and opportunities Valpo provides that we both came away from there feeling so positively about our experiences.  When I first visited Valpo back in 2000, it was the friendliness of the people that made me want to go there, and despite all the beautiful new buildings they've built between my tenure there and Vickie's, that friendly attitude remains the thing that makes Valpo a place I'd recommend to anyone who asked.

I got up early on Saturday morning so I could go for a run along my old marathon training route.  Valpo's campus feels so different now that it doesn't make me too nostalgic, but that run certainly did.  It brought back the feeling of accomplishment I enjoyed while training for the marathon, but it also served as "Liz's underage drinking tour," and I made it through five miles easily because I was busy thinking about all the fun I had with my friends in the various houses and apartments on the outskirts of campus.  Though I look back now and wonder how I bonged beers with such ease, I have really fond memories of all the goofy things my friends and I did on the Valpo party circuit.  I know a lot of college kids get themselves into serious trouble because of their drinking habits, and I've often tried to figure out how it was possible that I never did anything I seriously regretted, never found myself in a dangerous situation, and never got arrested (or even written up!) despite all my shenanigans.  This weekend I got to thinking, though, that despite making some questionable decisions about how much to drink, I always made good decisions about with whom to drink.  My friends at Valpo were all good-hearted, kind people, and we always looked out for one another.  When I watched Vickie begin to think about life after Valpo, I couldn't help but remember being in that position six years ago.  I have never been one who wanted to go back to college, but it made me miss all my old friends and the fun we had together.  It also helped me to remember what a special time those four years were in my life, so I'm thankful for that.

It seems self-indulgent to say that the best thing I can wish for my sister is that, after enjoying college as much as I did, she is able to find as much personal and intellectual gratification as I've found in my post-college years, but that is what I wish her all the same.  I know she's had a positive impact on that university, and I hope that going forward, the experiences she had at that university prove to have made an equally positive impact on her.  (And if anyone ever asks me what I "gave back" to Valpo in return for everything I took away, I can just say "I gave you Vickie!")

Want to see her collect her diploma?  Want to see the fierce red heels she wore with her cap and gown, which the people who took the photos above clearly did not properly appreciate?  Want feel seasick as a result of my extremely poor camera work?  Want to lose your hearing from hearing me cheer for her?  Then watch the video below! 

(The Graduate is the novel by Charles Webb upon which the movie starring Dustin Hoffman and Anne Bancroft is based.  I'll summarize simply by stating: Benjamin Braddock did not attend Valparaiso University.)