What's up, Doc?

It's official. After many years of school (I'd prefer not to say how many), I have finally graduated and as of May 18th, I am officially Dr. Fondse! :)

Never would have made it without this guy!!

Wouldn't even be here without these two!

The whole family came up for my graduation - too bad the weather didn't cooperate

In true Oregon fashion, it rained on our graduation. Which you wouldn't think is that big of a deal in OR.... but.... the graduation was outside. Yep. 2 hours in the pouring rain.

If you zoom in you can see a tiny Sarah. And rain drops. Many rain drops.

Myself, the Dean, and two of my amazing classmates, Ellen and Shaleen.
All soaked to the bone of course.

 In Oregon, you don't move an event for a silly little thing like rain. Nope. You give all the graduates plastic ponchos and bear through it together. At least the family got to have an umbrella and we graduates had a last bonding moment where we collectively agreed this was the strange as heck to be soaked to the bone for graduation.

Fatima, one of my best friends, looked fabulous for the day! This was before the rain started of course

Because there are so many graduate students in all the programs, the graduation day was essentially "Here's your diploma, now be on your way". Because of this, we have a separate event just for pharmacy the Thursday before graduation where they give out awards and we receive our hoods. As class president I was asked to give a speech, which Bobby assured me was not horrible. And I was both shocked and honored to receive the Deans Award for Excellence, one of the highest awards given by the School of Pharmacy. It was even more fun when they announced that the 2 poster awards this year were being given to the same group - Group 16 which happens to include yours truly....

Group 16 and our BPH Poster

It was a chaotic few days and somewhat anticlimactic now that it's all over. But it feel great to be done and I start my residency on July 1st with one of the best health systems in the state. Now back to the books - I may have graduated, but now I have to pass the boards! Wish me luck.