Graduation!

He did it! He did it! He really, really did it! Aaron officially graduated with a doctorate in Molecular and Computational Biology. He had three graduation ceremonies to attend over a two day period. Last Thursday, was Aaron's PhD Hooding Ceremony and was the main ceremony where he was declared a Doctor of Philosophy.



Here is a picture of his Professor (Xiaojiang Chen) is preparing to put the hood on him. The hood has a blue velvet stripe that signifies his PhD and the rest is in his school colors of cardinal and gold.


Graduate with proud parents and wife

The boys were at school, so they didn't come to the ceremony. Each graduate was only allowed three tickets for the ceremony anyway.


What the hood looks like from behind

Friday was the Commencement ceremony and the Biology Department ceremony. Just Aaron and I went to those. Samuel had to be at school for standardized testing that day until noon and then Aaron's parents picked him up and started for Oregon. After all the ceremonies were done, Aaron and I followed behind them.



All the graduates (you know, however many thousand graduated from USC this year) were all near the main stage for the Commencement ceremony, so I found a great seat by the big screens they had set up. I did catch a few glimpses of Aaron on screen, but didn't get a very good picture of him on it.


Waiting in line at the final ceremony to come in to the main tent

When everything was finally done, I asked Aaron if he finally felt graduated. he replied with a resounding, "YES!"