Allie Graduates from BYU (kind of...)

March 11 was the last day I had anything official on campus. I went to a lecture then to a luncheon for award recipients. It was lovely. Then after the luncheon, I received a text that classes were cancelled for the rest of the semester. That was a long time ago. Winter semester finished online. Spring term was all rolled over to online.

I worked for 3 weeks at a pretty steady pace to get 340 ready for online. 110 was already developed and up and running. We had some tweaks to make, but LeeAnn mostly worked on those. Thankfully. I worked with our designer Emily to make 340 ready for remote learning. It's going well. It's so fun to meet via zoom twice a week. It feels almost normal.

the last zoom with all of our student teachers. It was supposed to be in person with food. 

The last zoom with our interns. This was supposed to be in person, too. Still, lots of smiles. 

Anyway, in mid-March public schools also had a soft close, waiting to see what would happen. The soft close turned into a permanent close for the 2019-2020 school year. Just like that, Allie was also teaching remotely. We went to my office one day and worked together. We bounced ideas off of each other. It was quite fun.

April graduation for BYU was cancelled. That was one graduation I was willing to sit through for my girl, but it wasn't going to happen. Allison felt so bad for Allie that she planned a small get together and mock graduation for Allie. Jenny had a cap and gown that she brought down. Allison decorated with balloons, streamers, and a sign, and she bought cookies. In attendance were: Allison, James, Audrey, and Mac DeVuyst, Allie, Mel, Keenan, me, and Natalie Hancock, our director. It was the first time I saw Keenan since the divorce was final on April 9. It actually wasn't bad.

Anyway, Allison had Allie put on the cap and gown and she played the graduation processional music. As Allie walked from the front yard to the back, the lawn was lined with photos of Allie and one photo of Ellen Swallow Richards, founder of Family and Consumer Sciences. I had asked Natalie if she' be willing to come and say a few nice things about Allie and help us recognize her. She was happy to come. I think that made it really special. I love looking at the smiles on their faces in a couple of these photos. It shows what a great relationship those 2 have. Natalie said that the first time she saw Allie as a TA in the foods lab she knew Allie was special. Then when she went to observe her for the first time at Diamond Fork, Allie was so excited to tell her about a fight she broke up. Natalie even quoted Walt Disney: "If you can dream it, you can do it." A lot of friends and family joined us via zoom. It was a great chance for me to practice setting up a zoom meeting. Kristen, Jenny and Scott, mom and dad, Kamiko and Bekki, Kobi, Mario, Taryn, Lane, Kaleb, Makei joined from as far away as Arkansas and Indiana. Technology is good.

It was so nice of Allison to go to all that work. In fact, she hung streamers twice because right after hanging paper streamers it started to rain and they all fell down. The rain stopped and she put them up again. I'm proud of Allie. She's a great teacher. She'll make a difference for a lot of students. She already has. She's back at the school now, helping clean out lockers and close up the school for the summer. She's signed a contract to go back in the fall. Way to go!

P.S. Starlyn and I bought Allie a Razorbacks license plate frame as a small graduation present. Woo Pig.