Duke Graduation Ceremony (May 12)

Andrew defended his dissertation on July 21, 2017; we moved on July 24, and after arriving in Utah he had a couple of weeks to submit his revisions. He officially graduated on September 1, but his diploma didn't arrive in the mail until September 24 (which was quite a while ago).

September 24, 2017

So it felt a little odd to fly back to Durham to attend the graduation ceremony in May. We feel at once like we've just left (it hasn't even been a year!) and that graduate school was eons ago (it's been almost a year!); whichever way we happened to be feeling at any given moment, it was wonderful to go back to North Carolina (if only for a few days). 

Celebrate Good Times

Karen hosted a joint family dinner in Andrew's honor this evening. She is so good at hosting dinners--I consider it good hostessing practice just to eat at their house! She had decorated the whole kitchen with a graduation theme, complete with confetti on the table.


Of course, there are quite a few graduations going on in the Heiss family this year--Andrew, of course, just finished his bachelors, Emily will be finishing high school in May, and Reid will be finishing his MPA in June--so the 2008 confetti pieces will be well used!

The 2008 Heiss Graduates

There were also little paper graduation caps hanging from the ceiling around the kitchen, which was fine until someone mentioned mistletoe. Emily got jealous of Andrew and me kissing all the time, so they all she decided to get in on the action.

Emily got slighted by Andrew

But David made up for it later (this was a stage kiss--no lips involved)

Karen made some delicious manicotti for dinner and I made a cake for dessert. In case you can't tell, the cookies are supposed to be mountains.

After dinner we let Rachel entertain us for a while. She's always willing to entertain. She was so talkative today and was very friendly. I think she learned today that if she smiles nicely while people are eating they will feed her. Throughout the day she sampled pineapple, brownies, cookies, cake, cucumbers, bananas, cheese, and other bits of goodies from everyone's plates.

Walk to Grandpa

Rachel with her assistants: Grandpa and Grandpa

We played a rousing game of Mexican Train after the table was cleared. Andrew was pretty confident that he was going to win, after scoring zero points on the first three rounds. On the fourth round he scored ninety-six points, putting him at about third place. Things just went downhill from there.


While we were playing, Jacob took this random picture of me. I figure since there are silly pictures of almost everyone else, it's only fair that I post one of myself. I have no idea what I'm doing in this picture. It looks like I'm fortune telling or am reciting something...a yogic phrase or poetry, perhaps.

There is a bifurcation in your future...

We had a wonderful evening, even if we had to call our Mexican Train game short (if Rachel is with us our evenings end around 8 PM). Thank you to our wonderful families for all their support while Andrew's been working on his degree! We couldn't have done it without you.

He did it!

As of yesterday, Andrew is an official BYU alumnus. He did an amazing job balancing his roles as husband, father, scholar, and employee, among his church callings and other roles. We're glad that he'll be able to take a break from his studies before he starts up again in the fall! This will be the first time he's taken a break from school since coming home from his mission! He's worked straight through every spring, summer, fall, and winter semester taking a full load of credits and working 25 hours a week. It has been really busy!

At AUC, he'll only have to take 9 credits each semester and will only be able to work about 12 hours a week. That will be a change of pace!

Yesterday, Andrew's parents, Rachel and I watched Andrew do the traditional processional. It was so cold that it snowed while the graduates were making their way up to the Marriot Center! Unfortunately we didn't actually ever see Andrew, but we saw thousands of other graduates!

Elder Bednar was the keynote speaker.

Just as I was trying to remember who had spoken at my commencement excersizes, and about what, Elder Bednar said something to the effect that since no one remembers what anyone says at graduation, he'd be giving the graduates a gift: a shorter than expected speech.

He spoke about learning to love learning, among other things. Since this blog doubles as my brain, we'll at least be able to remember the topic he spoke on!

Andrew and the Egyptian Flag

Andrew and the Italian Flag

Rachel was pretty good during the ceremony, except that she desperately wanted to touch the curly, white hair of the woman sitting in front of us. Between the three of us it was quite the chore to keep Rachel's hands to herself. She spent a lot of time walking around in the halls, and a little time sleeping, but mostly she was a well behaved baby. If only the same thing could happen at church!

When we met Andrew after it was over and went outside, the snow had all disappeared and it was warm and sunny. This weather is enough to drive anyone crazy. It's impossible to dress for! Andrew's parents took us out for a very quick dinner, before I had to head to a primary meeting. While we were on our way to the restaurant, Rachel decided she needed to fill up her pants and started making the strangest faces.


This morning we had to be on campus around 7 AM. It's a dreadful hour, I know, but at least we got to get his graduation ceremonies over with and know that we won't have to come to campus that early in a long, long time (perhaps forever)!

Rachel came to campus wearing pyjamas and bunny slippers. She was devestated that we woke her up before she was ready--not that we even meant to. I tried to put her in her carseat without waking her up, but I had to move her so many times in order to buckle her seatbelt. This arm, and that arm...she woke up and screamed for a few minutes but settled down once we were in the car.

She was even better behaved through this ceremony. We filled up almost an entire row, with Andrew's parents, my mom, David, Patrick, Josie and me. Rachel got passed up and down the row the whole time and didn't fuss one bit...until we tried to give her to Andrew, that is.

Andrew's Graduating Class in MESA (L to R): Joseph Woolstenhulme, Douglas Sturm, Sami Smith, Lindsey Hulet, Don Kopp, Zach Queen, Ben Petersen, Christopher Lewis, and Andrew in front

Perhaps she tolerated being with Daddy and his scary, scary hat because he got a lei (from the Kennedy Center) for graduating magna cume laude. She had a great time smashing the flowers and picking off the petals!

Andrew and Rachel, Ross and Thereesa

Andrew with his parents (and us)

Andrew with my family

Mom, I hate this hat!

Daddy, Rachel and Y Mountain

Me and Andrew

JFSB courtyard

We walked around for a little bit taking pictures, but it was still rather chilly. The tree that we took David's graduation pictures at hadn't even blossomed yet this year! We decided that we would take our "farewell to BYU" pictures when it was a little bit warmer. Andrew will still be on campus everyday this summer, so it isn't like we're actually leaving yet!

Authentic Acadamical Garb

Adrift in a sea of black robes and square caps, Rachel held on to whoever was carrying her, burying her face in their shoulder. She was absolutely terrified of all the people dressed up in academic regalia--even Daddy was too scary for her. She was very reluctant to go to him at all, especially when he had his hat on. She would giggle nervously and squirm to get away whenever he had her.

Get away from me!

(She looks petrified in this picture!)

When Andrew's dad graduated from BYU Andrew was seven months old. Karen sewed a little set of robes and made a mortarboard hat for him to wear, which she kept packed away for 23 years.

Rachel got to wear it today. She was a very brave girl and walked with Daddy during his college convocation, even though she was afraid of him and his hat. She sat with me and our family during the program, and then I got her dressed in her robes (which scared her half to death) and my mom stood in the back with her until Andrew walked by. She was sad to leave Noni/ Grammy/ Nana/ Grandma (she hasn't quite decided on a title yet) but let Daddy carry her anyway, whimpering the whole way. Andrew was afraid she was going to break out in hysterics at any minute, but she did a good job suppressing her fears until she was back in mommy's arms. Then she buried her head in my shoulder and wouldn't look up at anybody.

Andrew and Rachel with Professor Donna Lee Bowen

Save me!

It's a good thing we have 17 or 18 years to get over this fear before she, herself, will have to don such robes again.