I “graduated” from law school today (or yesterday, as the case may be).
We all got to the law school around noon…I was a bit lost at first and when I saw the list of “to-dos” on the blackboard, I was momentarily afraid that I missed some sort of registration requirements and wouldn’t be eligible to walk! Luckily, I bumped into my classmate Leah Nahele (truly one of the most hardworking, talented human beings that I know) who helped set me straight. This was the start of a long afternoon. We took our class photos at Andrews Amphitheater, and it’s a good thing we took our class pictures when we did because we missed the rain. I was also lucky enough to be able to take a photo with the members of my 2010 entering cohort. My classmates are truly amazing, extraordinary people who I have been blessed with the opportunity to become friends with. And indeed, they have become some of my closest friends. That’s why it was really nice to be able to spend the afternoon after the picture taking with them, going shopping and eating sushi and just talking story in general. I’ve seen these faces several times a week for the last four years and it’s sad that I won’t get to see them regularly anymore.
As for the ceremony itself…let me say first that today was a very frustrating day for all of us, given the uncooperative weather. Our ceremony was supposed to start at 4:30…but twenty minutes before the stop time, the decision was made to switch venues due to the pouring rain outside. Instead of Andrews Amphitheater, we were initially told that we would do the ceremony in the law school’s Classroom #2. Thankfully, this wasn’t to be (because if it was, it would have been a huge disaster, given that there were so few seats that most of the law students didn’t even have a place to sit, since some little kids and their parents rudely took over whatever seats they could get, and no matter what was said to them, no one wanted to move!). We spent time speculating among ourselves where we would be sent, with most people thinking that the ceremony would either take place in the law library or the law school courtyard. Then came the announcement that we would move to Orvis Auditorium across the street…so onward everyone marched to Orvis. Once we go there, though, we did a lot of waiting outside. By this point, however, the rain had eased up and the decision (and I firmly believe this was the right decision) was made to move the ceremony back to Andrews Amphitheater.
And, what a ceremony it was. Ken Lawson gave an amazing speech, as did Mr. Matt Cohen (another simply amazing and spectacular human being), and the others as well.
Thank you to everyone who came out to see me, and those who wanted to but couldn’t. And thank you to the classmates who made today awesome, especially Andrew Lee (who let me borrow his regalia at the very last minute), Stephen Downes (yet another super hero classmate who go this degree while facing inspiring adversity), Leah Nahele (to repeat the praise above, simply the most amazing and talented human in the world), Roxanne Kwong (another amazingly smart classmate who truly always has the most insightful things to say), Neil Okuna (one of my closest classmates who is WAY smarter than he gives himself credit for…he simply astounding), Paul Koftinow (who actually finished up his credits last December but I would not have made it through this semester without his guidance), and everyone else that I didn’t mention.
It’s been an amazing ride and I look forward to working with all of you as we embark on our professional careers together.