UVSC Graduation

Yesterday, Friday April 28th, was significant day for UVSC as it was graduation day. It was fun going around and seeing all the graduates and taking pictures of them. They were anxious, happy, goofy and I believe that all had an overwhelming feeling of relief - finally done.

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The 3,527 grads walked into the McKay Event Center to await the Commencement Ceremony.

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Ira Fulton is an Arizonan philanthropist that has invested much money into the education here at UVSC and he was awarded with a honorary Doctorate.

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Everyone took their seats and anxiously listened as the ceremony went forth with President Sederburg remarks.

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After the ceremony all the grads split up and went to their individual school to receive their degrees.

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This fine group is from the Department of Language that were my classmates and friends graduating in Spanish. The older man in front is Dr. Del Shumway which is retiring from UVSC after many years of contribution to the college.

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My girlfriend was among friends as she too graduated.

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Faculty and staff were part of this joyous event.

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It's easy to see the emotion that these students feel as they went throughout the day. I'll be graduating next spring, so after being to this event I am excited for my day to walk and be among these alumni.

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UVSC is a place of study to many non-tradition students as many stories were told about returning to their education after years of being a parent and feeling they needed more.

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It was a great day and I was happy that I could be there taking pictures to capture the moment.

Today I am shooting my first wedding and I am both nervous and anxious. I got some good practice of taking group pictures at this graduation ceremony and hope to apply what I learned. Sunday I drive back to California to work for a week with my brother. The following Saturday I'll be heading to Santiago, Chile via Mendoza, Argentina for an internship and I look forward to the great adventures that await me for the next three and a half months.

I am excited to hear what you all think about my newest pictures, so leave a comment.

Chaney vs. Nader

Today was a rather interesting day. As we close the school year we celebrate the graduation of those that have put forth their time and sweat to finish college.



It is a memorable for all those involved regardless where you are at.



This year will be a year long to be forgotten at BYU. Earlier this year BYU invited Vice-President Dick Chaney to their graduation ceremony.



This invitation was quickly protested because of the integrity of this man for his role in the war.



Interestingly enough, these same people raised $20,000 and invited former presidential candidate Ralph Nader to speak at an "Alternative" graduation ceremony.





Ralph Nader spoke about the need for more Governmental Accountability. He brought up many good points which made me think that he really would've been an interesting president had he won. But at the same time I wondered how much would actually be accomplishable.



He was a very friendly person and signed autographs afterwards advertising his new books.

So this has been a day not to forget. It was interesting to hear from two great political leaders in our nation. Vice President Dick Chaney didn't speak about politics in his speech other than thank those that are serving in the armed forces that are from this area.

So leave a comment and let me know what you think about these two men and about the BYU students gathering money and getting Ralph Nader to speak at this alternative graduation ceremony. I'm excited to hear what you all have to say.

Roadtrip: Las Vegas

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So if you haven't figured out yet, I really enjoy traveling and going on road trips. Even at times when I should ground myself as my parents did to me when I was bad I still get that same urge to go explore and take pictures. Well at times I am able to stop myself, but I am dating someone who has the same passion for travel and getting out of town, and I'm not able to help myself. So Friday night after taking pictures of wakesploration around 7:00 my girlfriend turned to me and asked if I wanted to go to Las Vegas and without much hesitation I said yes.

We did what most couples did in Las Vegas ...

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... TAKE PICTURES ...

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We got into Vegas around 1:00 and walked the strip and took a bunch of pictures. My girlfriend actually decided to make it interesting and have a little photo competition while we were down there to see who could take the best picture. We are going to pick our top three and have some non-bias friend judge them for us. Should be fun, but I think she might just win it cause she took some great pictures herself.
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We first parked at the Venetian and took a walk through Italy, wishing that we were really there.

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From there we walked to the Fashion Show mall and headed to the Wynn.

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From there I can't remember where we ended up, but we walked until our feet started to hurt.

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By that time it was around 4:00 and we headed to the sleep in the car. I had hoped to stay with a friend, but it didn't work out. Car isn't that bad, it was the fact that we had just planned on going to Vegas on a whim and didn't pack the pillows. Amy slept in the back seat while I ended up sleeping in the driver's seat. We had parked in a parking lot near some stores outside of downtown and I was awaken by the trash man hauling away the dumpsters around 6:30 and I moved the car to a quieter place to sleep for another two hours.

We essentially we pulled a all nighter with a small nap - good thing Amy doesn't mind little adventures like these ... it was after all her idea to take the trip.

Around 9:30 we headed back to the strip.

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We went to see the Eifel tower and ended up walking into the Casino area and stumbled upon this wad of cash - ever seen $1,000,000 in person? It was impressive.

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We went to the Belagio which has wonderful flowers all over the place even hanging from the ceiling. They had an area full of butterflies and Maggie you are going to have to tell me the names of these guys.

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We ended the before leaving town I met up with some friends and ate at IN-N-OUT!!!!

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I was interested to find a scripture reference on the bottom of their cups. It seems that our nation is going crazy with trying to rid God of our economy. It was nice to see that IN-N-OUT hasn't given in ... or out for that matter ;).

Well, there are my pictures from my Vegas trip. We ended up going to Zion's National Park on the way back and making our drive back a bit longer. It was worth it. I'll try to post those pictures tomorrow.

I hope you liked my pictures, leave me a message and let me know which on my pictures will win the photo contest I have set with my girlfriend.