CHEERS! Engineering graduates, family members and friends celebrated their graduates in the Donadeo Innovation Centre for Engineering today.
(Edmonton) As the engineering class of 2017 was making its way to Fred Pheasey Engineering Commons, volunteers were busy dressing up the popular study hall and gathering place to celebrate their graduation.
With its breathtaking views of the river valley, the room is popular among students. But when they arrived to celebrate today, the room was filled with excitement, photo stations and cupcakes.
Yes, cupcakes—900 of them, washed down with lemonade and punch at a special reception for students, families and friends.
There was also an air of nostalgia, as graduates looked back on their time as students.
“Winning the mechanical engineering design competition (MecE 260) was the high point of my program,” said Heather Williams, who has just graduated with a degree in mechanical engineering.
The undergraduate chapter of her life has ended, but learning must go on.
“I’m coming back in the fall, so I’m not done yet,” said Williams, who is starting a master’s program in mechanical engineering in September.
She’s not alone in her addiction to learning.
“I will definitely miss school,” said Kyle O’Shaughnessy, a computer engineering graduate who’s leaving for California to embark on a new journey as a software developer. “Especially being on the receiving end of all the knowledge and information.”
“What I’ll miss most is learning from my supervisor,” said civil and environmental engineering PhD graduate Golnaz Arab.
She smiled and looked at her supervisor who, along with Arab’s mom, attended the convocation ceremony. “You don’t get that much time to learn in the industry.”
“It feels surreal,” said mechanical engineering graduate Sharegh Ahmad Yusefi. He came to the convocation with his family and friends. “I’m really proud of myself and I feel like everyone else is also proud of me.”
As the conversations and music were dying down, and the sweet aroma of cupcakes began to fade, the convocation room closed its door to another cohort of exceptional graduates. As the saying goes, ‘When one door closes, another one opens’ and as of June 8, the graduating class of 2017 is a part of an international family of more than 30,000 U of A Engineering alumni.