UHL Graduation

Two weeks ago we had a graduation ceremony for my Honors and Leadership program. When I first got the letter inviting me to apply for the program four years ago, I hesitated. I'd done similar programs in high school and honestly just wanted to float through college without anything extra. I was reading my post for my interview and am so glad that I recorded this. It's fun to look back at that interview and see what has changed from them.

This program has been hard. There were so many times that I just wanted to drop out. I'm so thankful that I didn't. My UHL classes were some of the best classes I took, besides my writing workshops. These classes were so diverse with topics like Nuclear Technology and Policy, where I learned about the media and met some crazy people, and Migration, Literacy, and Modernity. That was honestly my favorite, and I have a letter from that professor on my wall because it was so touching. 

This last year has been especially rough with our senior project. It was a year long group project, and honestly, we didn't get much done. It's fine, it was hard. But now it's over. 

The graduation was fantastic. My parents and Sammy were able to come which meant a lot to me. The morning of was a little stressful because I found out I needed to turn in a hard copy of a project, so Sammy and I were running around campus to print things out and get them to all the right buildings. Then Sammy and I hung out with my UHL friends inside the honors house which was fun. I hadn't talked to them very much this year, so it was good to catch up with my classmates. 

And then we had the ceremony. The food was fantastic! My mom struggled to take a picture of all of us on her iPhone 4. The camera couldn't hold us all in it.  

My dad didn't get in on the second try. 

After eating, they had the ceremony. We all had to write a statement of ourselves that was read while we walked up, and the medals were placed on us. Mine said this: 

Kylee Gomez, formerly Wiechman, first came to CU Denver to study nursing. She's leaving with a degree in English, focusing on Creative Writing, and the confidence to keep going after her dream to be an author. She's grateful for the diverse array of topics and people she's been exposed to in the UHL program, and mall ride, to use in future stories. After graduation she will submit her first novel, keep on writing, and one day start a family. 

In his closing speech, the director of the program Dr. Medema said that he loves students who come to school to study medicine, and leave with an English degree, because they went after their passions. When you go after your passion and work hard enough, you'll be successful. I loved getting the shout out because at times I feel like I'm not noticed because I didn't hang out in the honors house as often as everyone else. 

After the ceremony, I took my parents down to Union Station to get some of the best ice cream ever. Salted caramel peanut butter cup. SO. GOOD. I loved showing them the city and where I've been all these years. It's so beautiful inside, since it was the old train station converted with lots of restaurants and into a hotel. 

This is our typical faces. Me with ice cream, Sammy wondering how I can love it. 

I can't believe that UHL is over, and that I made it. The graduation was unreal seeing all my classmates I've had these past four years and all the different directions that we're headed in.