Ahh, graduation. The sweet feeling of freedom mixed simultaneously with uh-oh-what-now. I graduated with a BS in Secondary Education, a BA in English, and a minor in Studio Art (I definitely made the most of my four years of credits!). And for any NCAA basketball fans, I’m sure you know who Sr. Jean is as of March 2018. Here’s a picture of me with her on my graduation day!

Sr. Jean and I got very close during my time at Loyola. I met her first while I was waiting for the inter-campus shuttle. She used to hand out little pieces of paper with bible verses or inspirational quotes on it, and always brightened up your day. Then, when I started helping out with Taize (see Part III if you don’t know what this is!), she always came to that and saw me there. Finally, she invited me to join her SMILE program, which stands for Students Moving Into the Lives of the Elderly. This program linked up a student and an elderly person that lived near campus for monthly gatherings over lunch. It was such a rewarding program to be involved with, and I was lucky enough to dine with not only my SMILE partner, Liduina and her sister Connie, but also Sr. Jean on multiple occasions.

Domenick graduated with a double major in Psychology and Philosophy and minors in Catholic Studies and Classical Studies. While I was done with school and ready to enter the working force after graduation, Domenick’s plans were to continue on to graduate school. I remember getting coffee with Domenick the week of graduation and catching up on our post-graduate plans. We had some great conversations that week, and despite his efforts to introduce me to his family then at graduation, it never ended up working out.

Me (obviously), and Domenick with his sister Leah on our graduation day

We were both ready to go forth and set the world on fire, as St. Ignatius of Loyola says, and in opposite directions. I was headed back to my home state of Michigan to job hunt and Domenick was headed back to his home state of Wisconsin for graduate school. But even though on graduation day we had no plans to see each other, that quickly changed in just a few short months.

 

Click here to read Part V!

 

 

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