Graduation 2018
Posted by Joseph Phillips on Wednesday, June 20, 2018 at 10:04 AM PDT
This past weekend marked the 99th Commencement for Seattle University. The Albers School had 309 undergraduate students participating in the morning ceremony on June 17th at Key Arena. In the afternoon, we had 264 graduate students receiving their degrees. We congratulate our graduates! We are proud of your accomplishments to date, and we look forward to your future achievements! We know you will go out there and make the world a better place! You have the skills and knowledge to do it and you have the values and integrity that this world needs! Go make us proud!
Check out what Key Arena looked like this past Sunday:
The weekend started for us with our Graduating Student Celebration. This took place late Saturday afternoon in the PACCAR Atrium. We had a great turnout of students, family, friends, faculty, and staff. Fr. Steve Sundborg, SU president, was able to swing by and extend his congratulations to our graduates. It was also another opportunity for him to observe, "There is no better school at Seattle University than the Albers School..." It used to be we had him all to ourselves at this time on the Saturday before graduation, but over time other schools have started having their receptions at the same time. That means Fr. Steve has to speak and run and has no time to linger with our graduates and their families. Since he did squeeze us in, we have no complaints. Check out this shot of our celebration:
This year graduation fell on Father's Day. It does not happen every year, but it happens often enough. It's not a problem for me, since my kids are all out of town anyway, and for those fathers who have to be at graduation, putting the spotlight on the graduate that day should not be difficult! Having your son or daughter getting their degree is a huge accomplishment -- and should be a big relief!
At the undergraduate ceremony, Albers student Marlon Do Couto received the Provost's Award, which goes to the transfer student with the top academic record. Marlon transferred to SU from North Seattle College and is a finance major. He was active in the Redhawk Fund, the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Center's RAMP program, and has a job lined up at Parametric Portfolio after graduation.
Sally Jewell, former CEO of REI and Secretary of the Interior, was the honorary degree recipient in the morning ceremony. Besides having her daughter graduate from Albers, Sally has the distinction of having appeared in the Albers Executive Speaker Series twice! Sam Green, a poet and part-time faculty member at SU who was Washington State Poet Laureate from 2007 to 2009, was the honorary degree recipient in the afternoon ceremony.
Wow, next year will be the 100th Commencement of Seattle University! I cannot wait to be part of that, however there is a slight problem. Key Arena will not be available since it will be closed for renovation. We don't have an alternative location yet, so stay tuned!