Ashley’s Graduation

UCLA

First day at UCLA – Ashley check’s out her new bed

Ashley started at UCLA in September 2021 as part of a long-term plan to graduate from medical school. After four years of hard work and many sacrifices, she is read to take her place as a graduate in the Class of 2025.

UCLA Commencement

The first of Ashley’s graduation ceremonies took place on Friday in the famed Pauley Pavilion, where UCLA claimed 10 NCAA national basketball titles between 1964 and 1975.

Commencement Ceremony

There was a long line for parents to enter the Pauley Pavilion that stretched all they way around the sports fields. Apparently the lines were just as for the students, who were still entering the pavilion after we found seats. The Commencement Ceremony included speeches from a range of faculty staff, including formal announcements that students be accepted for graduation from the head of each department. Each department head added their own flair in describing the achivements of their students. The commencement address was given by Sara Bareilles, a Grammy Award-winning singer, songwriter, actor, and UCLA alumna.

Commencement Photo Session

After the ceremony we had the chance to capture a few photos with Ashley, Tyler, and some of her friends over her four years at UCLA.

Dinner

The day concluded with Ashley, Tyler, Michelle, and I having dinner at Lawry’s Prime Rib in Beverly Hills. It was a fun night with some great food to celebrate Ashley’s hard work and achivements.

Department Graduation

The following Sunday Morning Ashley received her diploma as part of a graduation ceremony for her Department of Microbiology, Immunology, and Molecular Genetics. This was a much smaller ceremony and was conducted outside Kerckhoff Hall.

Ashley graduated with her classmates, receiving her diploma. She graduated cum laude, recognition of her being in the top 20% of students in her class. This was an amazing achievement given she is at one of the top colleges in the country and in a department filled with aspiring doctors.

Inverted Fountain

During orientation week, new freshman students take an oath and touch the waters of the inverted fountain. Once this is complete, it is said that students should not touch the fountain water until graduation, or risk the possibility of needing to take an additional quarter at UCLA before graduating. Ashley and some of her friends then followed the tradition of jumping into the fountain after having graduated. You could see the relief so many students were showing after four hard years of study.

Brunch (The view from my beer)

We concluded the festivities with a brunch at Bacari in Culver City attended by Ashley, Tyler, Shin, Madie and the parents.

For me the weekend represented a major milestone in my life and a huge accomplishment for Ashley. After it had been agreed to put Ashley through the US school system, I focused much of my energy towards guiding Ashley through Elementary, Middle, and High Schools and then College. I am so proud of what Ashley has achieved. She is planning to take a one year break (gap year), before she hopefully starts the next chapter of her life at Medical School. The long wait now starts to see which medical schools she will get accepted into.

Having completed this important phase of my life, I am wasting no time heading off on the next exciting chapter, traveling the world. I have a flight from LAX to London to catch later this evening.