It is difficult to believe that it has been over a year and a half since my undergraduate study. Graduating within four years with a B.S. from Cal Poly SLO's rigorous Electrical Engineering program was no trivial task. Since then, I've been gratefully working as an Energy Engineer at a small energy consulting company in SLO. During this period in life, I've been graced with the opportunity to be present when other great men and women walk off of Cal Poly's campus... young professionals who proceed into the world as auditors and accountants, designers and developers, marketeers and managers... some who have traveled around the world as missionaries to foreign countries... some who have moved their permanent residences to places unknown... and some who have continued to reside in SLO. Each individual destined to shape the world around them in some way, shape, form, or another... hopefully for the better.

A few days ago I had the pleasure of hanging out with a young man named Brian, whom I have known since beginning at Cal Poly. He is a fellow Electrical Engineer who has just completed the 4+1 program and will be officially graduating in under a week. You could say he "one-upped" me... I remember initially meeting him during freshman year. He had a quirky, funny, and quiet (though not) demeanor. He also loved food. Yep. Food. Food is good. The same characteristics hold true to this day. Although I hadn't spent much time getting to know him through our years at Cal Poly, i was grateful for the chance to catch up on his life during a small graduation photoshoot.

Getting out of bed was the hard part of the day. We had scheduled meeting on campus at 9:00AM. However, i had slept fairly late the night before and was also planning on bringing Jocelyn to campus so she could work on a group project. After groggily waking up and throwing on a pair of dark jeans, a beanie and jacket, and a pair of shoes (none of which I enjoy wearing on a regular basis), I picked Jocelyn up and headed over to campus. We arrived on campus a little later than expected and I headed over to the Power Electronics Lab to rendezvous with Brian.

Brian opened the door and let me in to the lab; we shook hands and he donned his cap and gown. Brian and I started chatting about life and the wonder of Cal Poly's Electrical Engineering program. I starting reminiscing about the old days full of drudging through homework, labs, and senior project... Sigh, senior project. Why does our senior project have over 1,700 views?

It was a calm, overcast, and not-too-cold winter day so we ventured outside and continued talking about the past, present, and future. A few strides out of the Electrical Engineering building I noticed a quiet undisturbed spot just between the Computer Science and Graphic Arts building where the trees had shed their leaves. Afterwards, we continued on our way for a while, stopping at various locations, until finally parting ways.

Brian plans on traveling for a short while after graduation and will then start working for a well-established integrated circuit (IC) company. He is the type of engineer I could never have aspired to be... a designer. But I am sure he will perform extraordinarily.

Congratulations and best of luck, Brian. You earned it.

If you are interested in having your graduation photos taken for Spring 2016, please feel free to contact me via email or Facebook and we can discuss further details.

What Was Learned

An ironed sash is a happy sash.
If a tassel has lettering (i.e. 2015) attached, be sure it is facing forward... or in a not-so-awkward direction (oops).
Tassel on the right before receiving diploma. Tassel on the left after receiving diploma.