This is my Graduation Day

This is the endgame! This is it! I made it! All the fears, anxiety, stress, tears, frustrations, late or sleepless nights, early mornings, all the cups of coffees I have consumed in the last four years, and all the memories, great, good or bad, have been leading up to this very special moment. I am getting teary-eyed looking back at it.

I didn't get to take a lot of pictures with my friends and colleagues as this day turned out to be a really hectic day but it is definitely one I will remember for the rest of my life. The graduate march started a little bit after 3 pm on June 14, 2019 at the Mattamy Athletic Center (MAC) arena and the only thought on my mind was, "I hope I do not trip and fall in these heels". We had to walk 3 flights of stairs up to the MAC arena and there were moments were we had to stop then continue and stop again just like being stuck in traffic. Once you enter the arena, a huge roar from the crowd followed. The energy was so surreal and extremely overwhelming because we knew that this is the beginning of the new journey and together we are about to embark in this thing called adulthood. We marched through the middle of the aisle and down to our seats to get the ceremony started.

The ceremony started with the invocation, then speech addresses from guest speakers, staff, and the Dean of Engineering, Thomas Duever, soon followed. To be honest with you, I mostly zoned out during these addresses and the only thing I can remember is that the topic from the Dean is that change is constant and we must learn to adapt to these changes as engineers. Not long after the Dean's address the awarding began.

The next part of the ceremony definitely killed and ended my singing career as I screamed my lungs out to cheer for all the people I know. It turns out that I know a lot more people than I thought, not just in Biomedical Engineering, but also in all of the engineering departments present during the convocation. When my turn came, I was definitely surprised to hear a lot of cheers from my fans (just kidding - my friends), as well as my family and my friends' families in the audience. What came as a shock to me is having my capstone supervisor on the stage to present me my academic achievement. All professionalism went down the drain and I went straight for a hug! Another highlight I would like to add here is that: the Raptors won the NBA finals for the first time in history the night before this convocation. Several people in my class went ahead and did their stage walk with a raptors jersey, a bandanna, and a raptors flag causing huge uproars from the audience which I find incredibly iconic.

The last part of the ceremony is the singing of the national anthem and closing remarks. After the closing march, I brought my family to meet some of my friends and we took some pictures. It was very chaotic in the lounge where refreshments and snacks were served. My mom was disappointed because she lined up for the said refreshments and snacks but when she got to the table, they were all gone. But nevertheless, it was a great experience.

I would like to take the opportunity to thank, first and foremost, my family because without them, I would not be able to survive these last four years. Their love and support kept me going and literally kept me alive. I would especially like to thank my parents for supporting me financially and emotionally, my sister for listening to all my rants about school and life in general and for taking amazing photos for me to keep, and my brother for toughening it out during the day and for being the funny annoying man child that he is. I would like to thank my friends for helping me cope with home sickness, helping me debug my codes, teaching me new ways of doing and seeing things, inspiring me to always try my best and encouraging me to not give up during tough times. I cannot thank you all enough and I will not be able to mention everyone that has helped throughout the years but I would like to mention a few here that I would like to thank. Thank you Nick and Arav, Sabrina, Deanna, Lianne, Katherine, Roman, Christine and Rana, Michael, Sevag, Joshlene, Kundana, Mary and Roliver, Ivy and Phillip. And of course my friends from Calgary who stuck with me and consistently checked up on me: Nikki, Kim, Char, and Camille, Rebecca and Nathania, Jared, Macker, Bennett, and Lukey. I am extremely grateful to the flow of support that I constantly got from these people and I hope that I have been a good friend and companion to all of you.

Showing off my iron ring.

After pictures were taken, gowns were returned, and diplomas were received. My family and I headed out for dinner. We went for pho (Yeah I know, I would've preferred sushi!) and this is why. Behind all these photos hides a big lie. My brother is actually in pain and had been suffering from a stomach ache since the night before. I would like to thank him for being a good sport and for suffering in silence to give me the stage (figuratively and literally) and giving me my moment in this academic achievement.