Sarah's graduation (a little late)

As I was glancing over my blog postings from the last few months, I realized that I hadn't posted about Sarah's graduation from medical school!  Tragic!!! 

Sarah ended her four year pursuit of a Jefferson Medical College medical degree on May 28, 2009.  The graduation took place in the Kimmel Center, arguably the most beautiful venue for the arts in Philadelphia.  Sarah was joined by 100+ fellow graduates who probably spent at least two of the last four years studying or learning in the hospital.  Sarah's parents, sister Elizabeth, and I were the privileged ones to receive Sarah's four tickets for the ceremony. 

It was quite something to experience all these students recite the Hippocratic Oath together and for them to officially become known as "doctors."  There was much rejoicing!!! 

We were all so proud of Sarah.  She worked so hard to get this degree in order to help people with their medical issues.  One of the reasons I am proud of her is her pursuit of primary care--specially family practice medicine.  While not as well respected on the East Coast in terms of prestige and paycheck, she wants to be a family doctor to develop relationships with her patients and their families to foster better care for their health.  The emphasis on preventative medicine and health education makes family practice the closest an MD will ever be to a teacher!  Or maybe I'm just biased.

Eric's graduation

Last week Sunday, Sarah hosted a graduation party for me! I had finished my coursework in September and received confirmation that I had graduated in January, but my diploma only arrived a few weeks ago. Our sister Elizabeth Gardner was staying with us for the weekend (she was presenting some of her research work for her masters degree in rheteric at a communications conference in Philly). Between the three of us, we put together a pretty nice graduation ceremony! It reminded me of my high school/homeschool graduation in that it was intimate, we designed the whole ceremony, it was meaningful, and graduates helped provide the music.

The weather was just stunning. We held it on our roofdeck on Sunday morning before church. A refreshing breakfast reception followed in our apartment. Personally, it provided a good deal of closure for my degree. Before, I had felt like graduating was somewhat anti-climatic, but this ceremony made it feel like I had accomplished a goal. Thanks to all those who came to support me!

Here's a video I spliced together from pictures and movies from the event:

Maria's Calvin graduation

My sister is a college graduate! Maria completed all her undergraduate and student teaching requirements for Calvin College, and we celebrated with a huge graduation ceremony at Van Andel Arena in Grand Rapids, Michigan on Saturday. When I saw there were over 800 graduates, I got a little nervous about how long it would take. Thankfully, Calvin has graduation down to a science: two moderators read off the names immediately after each other, while the president met them in the middle to shake each person's hand. There were a few pranksters who did things like adding the word "rules" to the end of their name. (my name would have been read as "Eric De Boer Rules", for example) Some others--all of whom were male, I might add--decided to have some fun by kissing the president on the cheek, a few more than once. While it wasn't Hope College, I thought the graduation ceremony was well done.

Maria was excited to be done. She says that it feels like her time at Calvin is done, and she's looking forward to beginning work at Holland Public Schools this fall as a full time elementary Spanish teacher.

Here are some pictures of her graduating, along with the new graduate with her Bushhouse grandparents, brothers, and parents. *sigh* She's getting all grown up!



Friday Calvin had a special commencement address for its education students. My parents, Maria, and I went there directly after picking me up from the airport. It was neat that they celebrated their education students specifically through that! They called each one up by name and gave them a nice "Calvin College Education Department" keychain. None of the few guys who were there were elementary education, which was kind of sad. I used some of my spare time at the graduation ceremony itself to check, and five of Calvin's 68 elementary education graduating students are male. While that trend continues to make finding a job for me a bit easier, that also reflects an unfortunate reality for students growing up in a home without a positive male influence.

Before the education ceremony began, my parents took Maria and me up to where my dad proposed to my mom during her senior year (his sophomore). Thankfully for me and my sibs, she said yes! Here they are, nearly 30 years after his proposal.