Graduation...

quadraptor's picture
I did want to tell you guys that I will be graduating on May 14th. 7 years finally under my belt, haha!

I'll be graduating with a Bachelor of Science in Geology (minoring in Composite Science, which is a combination of Biology, Chemistry, and Physics). I will still be here in town until July or so since I have one more class I have to take (Calculus) and then I intend to move to Texas maybe in August or September. I will be putting in job applications in Austin, Houston, and San Antonio, and will be looking for a job in environmental science or hydrogeology.

It took me a really long time to understand that graduating is a great achievement even if you take 7 years to graduate. I had felt ashamed that I took so long, but not only did I change my major twice, I was also working for six years, so it's understandable. I'm glad to finally get done, get out into the real world, and live my dream job.


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I did want to share what I got as graduation presents too XD


Mom gave me a crock pot, cutting board, two grilling tongs, and a leather briefcase.
My oldest brother gave me a 12 megapixel digital camera
And my middle brother gave me the katana I wanted with a wall mount and cleaning case.
One of my mom's friends gave me a set of Really Useful Box storage containers (12 in total, 3 of four different sizes).
My brother's fiancee and her family gave me $30 to the Olive Garden
My aunt on my mom's side gave me $50
My aunt on my mom's side gave me $5 to Starbucks
My grandparents gave me an electric mixer and a rice cooker for my apartment
My aunt on my dad's side gave me $25
My other aunt on my dad's side gave me $25
My mom's boss gave me a set of pizza pans and a pizza cutter
trigger_mortis's picture

Congratulations Quad. I'm

Congratulations Quad. Smiling I'm really proud of you! That's such an achievement! ^^
Kaoori's picture

Congratulations, Quad! What

Congratulations, Quad! What an epic achievement. You should be proud!
moonsoverwater's picture

*lots of nuzzles* And I

*lots of nuzzles* And I thought graduating high school was an achievement!

Congratulations, Quad!


(thanks, starling! The avatar is amazing! And Thanks Pretzil for the siggie!
Skitties's picture

Congratulations, Quad. You

Congratulations, Quad. You deserve it. <3

Signature by Roo ♥
Sighthoundlady's picture

That’s so awesome!

That’s so awesome! Congratulations! Happy graduation. Good luck to you in the big scary world of job searching now, I hope you get off to a great start with your career.

So, why Texas if I may ask?

Anjali's picture

Oh, congratulations,

Oh, congratulations, Quad!

Yes, come to Texas...we have...uh...turkey vultures?
quadraptor's picture

I'm not so scared as I was

I'm not so scared as I was before. A professor I really like did a seminar today on resume building and how to be successful in an interview. He literally gave me a 3-page, front and back list of companies to work for and their websites Eye

And I want to go to Texas for several reasons. For one, I love it out there, obviously because of all the deer but it's a similar temperature to what I am used to here in Alabama but without the intense humidity we deal with here. Reason #2, I have relatives that live there now (but they plan to move to Pittsburgh soon) so I can go stay with them while I do my job interviews instead of having to spend money at a hotel/motel. They could help me find an apartment, too. And reason #3 is that it's a great state for geology jobs, especially environmental and hydro jobs. Texas has been under drought conditions lately so I could really help people find water with what I know.

I think it really started when I camped in Llano, TX, during Field Camp.

Plus it's not too far away from my home so if I want to head back home whenever I'd like I can drive home in 10 hours. I would love to move farther but I do want to be close enough to where I could come home every now and then. Eye

And lastly, Austin in particular sounds like my kind of place. A lot of environmentalists/treehuggers out there XD

Well grats hun 8D Can't wait

Well grats hun 8D

Can't wait to start Uni myself; keep hard at work ♥

Muchlove~
Pegasicorn's picture

*cracks a party favor,

*cracks a party favor, causing a rain of confetti*
Uruushou's picture

Congratulations, Quad! Holy

Congratulations, Quad! Holy cow, that's quite a degree to graduate with; you should be proud! c: I am sure you will get a job with no problem, especially in such big Texas cities. Graduating is a great achievement indeed, but please don't feel embarrassed that you took a while. There is absolutely no shame in that; if anything, it shows how persistent and passionate you are about your degree! It is very common for college students to change their majors, and there is nothing wrong with that, either. It's good to figure out what you want to do, rather than waste credits and money on classes you don't really enjoy.

I wish you the best of luck, and hope that you will find a job soon! c:
Hart's picture

That's fantastic news! Well

That's fantastic news! Well done Quad! Laughing out loud
Vala 's picture

Congratulations Quad , this

Congratulations Quad , this is such good news, dad will be proud of you sweetie ...<<33 I'm sure he is !!
" ~ Lady in Red ~ "

♥ ♥

Flyleaf's picture

Impressing , impressing !!

Impressing , impressing !! Congratulations aswell !!
Avatar @ Sluggs Siggy @ Amazegenalo
Bouncing Fly by Mary13
Snowsauria's picture

Congratulations! *hugs*

Congratulations! *hugs*
Spyrre's picture

Congrats!

Congrats! <3
quadraptor's picture

Thank you, everyone!

Thank you, everyone! X3

So...one of the companies I'm looking at is called Zephyr Environmental Corporation...and they happen to have offices both in Austin and Houston. I'm definitely thinking about sending my resume to this company since it's where I will want to live...and happens to be named after my silly doe too XD

Zephyr: *nodnodnodnodnod* I founded that company!

And looking around their website, I stumbled upon this:

"Zephyr is a Woman-Owned Business Enterprise (WBE) and certified Texas Historically Underutilized Business (HUB) with over 50 percent of current ownership by women employed at Zephyr."

Heh...I suppose it's my kind of people then, since most of you guys on TEF are female X3
quadraptor's picture

Dude... My professor

Dude...

My professor actually wrote out my resume. There's some things I have to add and change but seriously, he made look incredible.

Also I'm joining three geology-based organizations:

American Geophysicists Union (AGU).
Society of Exploration Geophysicists (SEG).
American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)

This has been a pretty amazing day!
Scythe's picture

Congratulations, Quad.

Congratulations, Quad. Smiling
eyestrain's picture

I'm excited for you to begin

I'm excited for you to begin this next leg of your life's journey. It may be hard at first to have so much change in your life but you've done such a great job to make it this far and I have faith you'll go much farther. I'm excited for you to live your dream.

I don't strive to be the best, but instead I strive to do my best, and always give it my all every time.
-faunet
BluedeerLegend18's picture

Congrats! *confetti*

Congrats! *confetti*
I have a Master's degree in Wumbology.
quadraptor's picture

Updated my list of gifts

Updated my list of gifts received. It was kind of scary talking to my grandparents about where we will be parking and such for graduation.

One exam down that I think I did okay on, got one more tomorrow that I'm really worried about.

I also picked up my cap and gown.
Zeekii's picture

Congratulations on getting so

Congratulations on getting so far!
I'm sure that whatever your exam is tomorrow you will do fine, just keep calm and try not to worry. Good luck! ^^
Sighthoundlady's picture

Good luck on your exam

Good luck on your exam tomorrow! Get plenty of rest and don't stress. You'll do fine! Smiling
quadraptor's picture

About to take possibly my

About to take possibly my last exam ever. Depends on my summer class since it's a directed studies course. Anyway, it took me about 2 hours to get everything I wanted down on three notecards (I had four notebooks worth of stuff to go through). Hope this exam goes well, I'm gonna be singing Fall Out Boy at the top of my lungs on the drive home Eye


Also it's crazy realizing it was a year ago when I went on Field Camp. Here's the links to the pictures I took again if anyone missed seeing them. It was quite a trip!

Inks Lake, Llano, TX
Palo Duro, Canyon, TX
Taos, NM
Sunset Crater, AZ
North Rim, Grand Canyon, AZ

Edit -

My exam went real well, still nervous though. I struggled this semester.

Anyway, tomorrow's my big day. My brother just got here and so we're gonna have hamburgers tomorrow before the ceremony, and then Sunday we're going across the bay to LuLu's which is an awesome seafood restaurant on the bay.
quadraptor's picture

So my mom and brothers gave

So my mom and brothers gave me their gifts today. All very cool, but I have to show off one of them especially.

I was gonna write everything but since my bro wants to play Left 4 Dead 2 right this second, I'll just show one of the things I got...

Nayu's picture

I don't know you very well (

I don't know you very well ( which is too bad because you seem like a really nice person), but I'd like to congrat' you as well!

I can relate to your personal experience with studies and it's kind of encouraging to know someone, who also had to work for some time before going (back) to uni, having graduated!

So, good luck for the rest, and btw, this saber looks killer ( no pun intended)!

Smiling

Siggy by Butterbrot <3

Congratulations Quad!

Congratulations Quad!
♥, I'm glad you've succeeded, and I wish you the best! Good luck!
quadraptor's picture

Thanks XD Alright now got

Thanks XD

Alright now got the time to say what I got from them:

Mom gave me a crock pot, cutting board, two grilling tongs, and a leather briefcase.
My oldest brother gave me a 12 megapixel digital camera
And my middle brother gave me the katana I wanted with a wall mount and cleaning case.

So now all I need is some tamati mats to chop up Eye
quadraptor's picture

About to head over to school.

About to head over to school. The ceremony is in a little less than 3 hours. We were going to eat before we went but the plans changed since our grandparents invited themselves to our house afterward.

Anyway, I went to put my gown on just to make sure wearing something on my belt wouldn't be too noticeable, and of course as soon as I did everyone wanted to take pictures of me in it. So I'll have a good one from home to show off when my brother uploads them to facebook.

Sigh...I feel weird today. Like I don't really deserve all this recognition. It's really hard to describe.

My professors keep telling me how I'm going to go far when I have my job, because I struggled through college. I don't know how to accept this as the truth. I don't know how to accept that being an 'average' student is better for a job than someone with a 4.0 GPA.

I don't feel like a success today.
Kaoori's picture

That sword is epic,I just

That sword is epic,I just have to say that.

Also, you've done your fair share of hard work, praise yourself. You deserve to be happy and feel accomplished.
Enjoy it Quad. Listen to us. Eye
quadraptor's picture

Here's a few pics from my

Here's a few pics from my graduation Eye


Anyone got a funny caption for this?


*nodnodnod*


Receiving my 'diploma'...it was really just getting the case for it since they mail it to me.

Also I don't know if anyone took the picture of it but I pointed to the sky for Dad when they called my name on the stage.
moonsoverwater's picture

Enjoy it all, Quad. You

Enjoy it all, Quad. You deserve it. I promise. <3

Congrats and three cheers for a happy new life!

Don't let anyone tell you other than you deserve it for all this hard work~!

*points at all the previous comments* We all love you and think you deserve it.


(thanks, starling! The avatar is amazing! And Thanks Pretzil for the siggie!