Mike’s UofSC Graduation 2013
Mike’s UofSC Graduation 2013! We celebrated Mike’s graduation from the University of South Carolina the weekend of May 8-12, 2013!! We were so thrilled to see him graduate, and to get a chance to take his friends out for dinner.
Mello Mushroom. Cathie and I flew into Columbia, SC on Thursday evening. It was early enough for us to take Mike and some of his friends out to Mello Mushroom, on the Vista. Friday we spent some time packing and shipping some of Mike’s school stuff back home; we also gathered two of Mike’s friends, Coleman and David and went to the horseshoe to take some cap-and-gown pictures. Friday night, we went to Coleman’s graduation party at the Plantation Club just off of 26 North of town.
Pre-graduation Horseshoe pictures. Saturday morning was graduation. Everything started at 9:30am. We were up nice and early and got over to the horseshoe to get a few more graduation pictures with Coleman and David, then we headed to the commencement ceremony at the Colonial Life Arena.
Commencement. The UofSC Graduation 2013 was very traditional but with the extra nice touch that every person’s name was read outloud and the graduates each got to shake hands with the university president. The keynote speaker was the treasured USC alum Darius Rucker; he gave a warm, loving speech remembering fondly his love for USC and imparting on the graduates the appreciation they will all gain for their alma mater.
We met by some the fountain and rose garden outside of the stadium; we took some very nice pictures of Mike with family and friends. He was truly happy and smiling big! Cathie, Liz and I left with Mike for a Panera Bread restaurant where we gave Mike his graduation presents. I was nice and relaxing a little further away from campus.
Forever To Thee toast! At 3pm, we met again at the horseshoe for one last round of pictures. This time we had Liane, Mike, David, Kate, Ryan, Nasse, Coleman, and Michelle. The whole group! (including parents!). We took some really nice pictures including one with the graduates toasting with champagne-filled glasses, supplied by Green’s, as they do whenever they sing their Alma Mater song “We Hail Thee Carolina.” I learned then that the hash tag for the graduation day was #UofSC2013 but the unofficial one was #ForeverToThee a quote from the last line of the song.
Out to dinner. We all went for dinner at the fine Cowboy Brazilian Steakhouse in downtown Columbia. It was packed with graduates and their families. The food and service were great! Then we met at Flying Saucer for drinks.
Packing up. Our last day on campus would be spent finishing packing and heading home. Cathie had a trip to Europe late Sunday night and we needed to get her back to Chicago.
Congratulations Mike!!
Update: Commencement Ceremonies Portraits Added
After a couple of weeks, the professional photographers sent us the official graduation ceremonies pictures.
