COMMENCEMENT 2007!

Ebenezer Archer Kling, myself, and Commencement Speaker Emily Pardoe after the Ceremony.

It finally came! After four years (or about 3 and a half if you account for the occasional "artistic break", I, as well as over 60 classmates, have graduated with my B.F.A from Montserrat College of Art (with Deans Honors might I add)!

The day started off early around 9:00 (yes that's early) with one last group breakfast at the local Michelle's Place. Then off to the Hardie building to put on our gowns and hats, which were the brunt of many jokes, to wait around in the Main Gallery. A big group photo of the entire class was taken on the steps of the Beverly Public Library while we all suffered in the 90+ degree heat. Then the bagpipes started and we were paraded around Beverly and took the long way to the Cabot Street Cinema where the ceremony was held. A couple of us had decorated our gowns and caps, some with glitter, some substituted there issued gowns with ones they had made out of old term papers, and I, in a minimalist fashion just wrote "BOO YEA" in big letters on my cap, a small reference to the childhood term my siblings and I used when we had achieved something great (like getting the last home made cookie.)

After we all filed in and took our seats I found my family, they were right behind me and I made sure to turn around occasionally to give a thumbs up. The president spoke, the Dean of Students ,the Mayor of Beverly, Liberal Arts professor Gordon Arnold and photographer Edward Brytynsky , but by far, the best speech was given by my dear friend Emily Pardoe. She did a fantastic job of getting the audience to laugh as well as summing up Montserrat pretty accuratley with the simple line " this place is strange..." It was a very funny but also emotional speech that got a huge standing ovation.

The awards ceremony came next. This is when awards are given out to students who showed exceptional improvement, leadership or continuted excellence in each field. I was extremely happy and a bit surprised to receive two awards. One was the Fine Arts Award, and the other was the Painting award. It was nice to hear what each presenter said about the recipient before we knew who was getting the award. Other award recipients were Kate Burgess, Micah Englington-Woods, Carolyn Hulbert, Jamie Press, KC Lee and Emily Pardoe. All are very deserving people who took the honor graciously.

Next came the faculty award, which I didn't know exsisted. It was give to Bart Uchida, a fantastic sculpture teacher who is going to Belgium for a carving workshop. He deserves it, and as Emily and I were saying, the department as a whole deserves the attention.


....then diplomas were handed out...yada yada yada... and Commencemnt 2007 was done!


We all filed out of the cinema giving high fives and hugs to whoever offered them, and marched to the Beverly Commons for one last big goodbye to our teachers and some fellow classmates we may not see for a while. The heat melted all of the cheese and the cake, and had made the juice the opposite of refreshing, but it was a great time to let my mom take embarrassing picture of me, as well as some great photo's with friends.


It was an incredible day, fantastic weather and a great turn out. And to top it off, when my whole family went out to lunch, they surprised me with a trip to Japan which I will be taking at the end of September for at least a couple of weeks. But that is a whole other post...

Below are two pictures from the big day!

The family and I, huddled together for the first time since December!

My roomate Sam Donohoe and myself.