University of Alabama grad!

My sweet Dan has graduated with honors with a Bachelor's degree in Biology from the University of Alabama! I am so proud of him. He didn't walk at graduation so we are waiting for his diploma to get here in the mail and we will have an official celebration! He had lots of good memories there so I asked him a few questions to help us always remember them. :)

What are your best memories from the University of Alabama?

"Football games, swimming in the outdoor pool with the water slide, going to the Bahamas, my labs"

What were some of your most memorable classes?

"Organic chemistry, generak biology with Dr. Olsen (because of the teacher, not really the class), Freshman English was crazy because my teacher was psycho (he used to swear all the time and I was smarter than everyone else because I was way older). I really liked my rural studies with Dr. Wheat. I liked my general chemistry labs because I got to dissect lung fish, frogs, rats, and more. I liked working in the lab with Dr. Lopez and Hu studying phycology. Cell cycle regulation was challenging but I felt like I started out knowing nothing and had a firm grasp on it by the end of the class."

What are your favorite memories at UA?

"The football games"

Tell me about the football games.

"I liked  screaming roll tide, learning all the songs, winning, picking fights with LSU fans...

The LSU game was a lot of fun even though we lost. We beat LSU though in the National Championship though so that was much better. One time a drunk, loud LSU fan was being really crazy and stupid and kept saying that LSU was going to go to the National Championship and we had no chance so I pushed him. He pushed me back. Then he started swearing at me and everyone else told him to be quiet. He yelled “You wanna fight?! Let’s go!” And I said… “You better keep walking if you know what’s best for you.” Josh had my back. Literally, he was standing behind me. Trevor was like ten people behind me with his baby strapped on. Trevor told everybody about it. He thought it was awesome. I was just mad because we lost the game."

You are in the process of applying for the Navy. Tell me what happened the other day.

"It all began in New York City, the Big Apple. Rachael tried to buy some postcards from a Chinese guy and he refused to sell them to  her because she insulted him on accident. We found ourselves wandering down the sidewalk of Times Square at 10:00 pm with no postcards. A mystical sign appeared in front of us, "10 postcards for $0.92". We looked at each other and said, We gotta get some postcards! We started looking at these postacrds when this naval officer walked up and started looking at them too. He had heard us talking about how cool these postcards are. So Rachael was joking with him and said, "We don’t need ten postcards; we should go halfsies and each pay 50 cents." That opened the door to discussion. Then I said, “I’m actually applying to the Navy right now. “ And he asked me who my recruiter is. I told him HM1 Gerity. He said "Oh, I don't know him but he’d know me. I ‘m Force Master Chief Grey and I’m in charge of all naval recruiting." Then he handed me a card and told if you have any trouble in your application process let me know, and if things don’t work out how you want them to then give me a call. He then bought his postcards and left. 

It’s such a small world and a great blessing to have met the head of recruiting for the Navy right when I was desperately trying to gain acceptance into the Navy and get their scholarship!"

What other memories do you want to remember?

"The University of Alabama trucks would ride by and I would grab onto the back of them (usually without them even noticing) and hitch a ride around the quad on my skateboard. Everyone would watch me and think it was so funny. That was fun. I liked that."

"I missed my finals twice. The first time was because of the tornado and I never had to make them up. That was a good thing because I probably would have failed Organic Chemistry if I would have had to take the final. The second time was a miracle instead of a tragedy! Instead of life being taken away it was given when Jude was born. I had to make up all my finals. I got a 98% on my Biochemistry final so it turned out pretty good!"

We had a mock graduation ceremony in the midst of packing and moving since Dan didn't walk. So he donned his honors stole, Katlin played the University of Alabama song and I gave him his super official diploma. It was so great.