Chancellor Drake at Graduation

Today, I graduate from the University of California at Irvine after four years with a bachelors of arts in film and media studies and minors in French and Digital Arts. These last few years have gone by so fast. Sometimes I feel like I haven't learned much, but I would be lying if I said that. It might not seem like I haven't learned or memorized anything, but the greatest thing that my mind has gone through is training in how to think critically and how to express myself primarily through writing. My education in the school of humanities has taught me about life and how to appreciate all the magnificent things the human mind can do whether that is through the arts or through science.

At the beginning of my college career, I started off as a computer science major with hopes that one day I would work with computers. However, I had no idea what would be in store for me as a CS major. I had no background in programming and my math skills were not exactly up to par with the other CS majors. Thus, I had to change majors. By the end of my freshman year, I decided to study the film because of my interests in the visual image. I had always been interested in photography and a study in photography was something I didn't quite thought about doing at UCI, so the next logical choice was to study the moving image through film. This has always been my reason for choosing film as a major. I have never been a huge film buff, but through the years I have learned so much about film and I have really learned to enjoy watching movies in a different way.

In any case, the days leading up to graduation left me unexcited about graduating because that would mean I would have to enter the real world. Well, it was fun. I met a new friend with whom I marched into the Brent Events Center. Mandy is a double major in History and a social science major. She will be teaching English in China for a year starting in August. I told her about my study abroad experience and I told her that she is going to have so much fun. Teaching English abroad has been something I've been wanting to do, but I can't afford leaving the country again. I have to work within the country a while and earn money of my own before I can leave for another extended amount of time.

Later in the day, I had my graduation celebration at BJ's Brewery in Huntington Beach. We anticipated to have 23 guests, but we ended up having 25. We had so much family there - aunts, uncles, cousins, second cousins, third cousins. It was great seeing everyone there. Dinner at BJ's was a big success and it was more fun than I had thought. I even left the restaurant with a few hundred bills in my pocket. Yay graduation gifts!