In the scheme of things, luck was the least significant contributor. Child Unit 2, otherwise known as our son Drew, just graduated Michigan Technological University (Michigan Tech) with a Bachelor of Science degree in civil engineering!

He chose to stretch himself, put himself into a completely foreign environment over 1,100 miles away from home, in a completely different weather pattern (one with 300 inches of snow per year), in a most remote location (Michigan’s Upper Peninsula – known as the UP), with completely unknown people, students and teachers, and voila!

As parents, don’t we try to envisage what our kids will end up becoming? I know we have.

We have always known him to be neat.

Early prognosticators might have suggested entertainment.

Perhaps sports…

Music maybe?

Hmmm… outdoor activities in the cold seem to have some interest…

Exploring in the dirt… is there something there?

Maybe road engineering started earlier than we might have thought…

Perhaps there is a little design influence in there…

While born in the Boston area, most of his life he lived just outside of Atlanta. Michigan Tech? What?  Where is that? The Upper Peninsula? Never heard of it! What do we know?  Less and less it turns out.

Well, the Upper Peninsula is an absolutely beautiful area, and Michigan Tech has been a fabulous experience for him. It is almost May and here are a few shots of beautiful springtime on the UP!

We are so proud of our son, who beyond his academic excellence (National Scholar of Excellence) worked his way throughout his college experience; living away from school for a co-op program as a field technician during his freshman year, working as an engineering intern with the MTU Center for Technology and Training, and, ahem, working as a bartender at the Keweenaw Brewing Company (KBC).

He was also very involved in the local community while at MTU, from being president of Husky Construction and Design, committee head for the MTU Concrete Canoe team as well as a member of the lacrosse club. Perhaps more revealing, he created civil engineering curriculum for teaching middle and high school students in a program that is used in 27 states – and he was chosen to speak at a civil engineering conference in Washington, DC on this very topic.

With a major in civil engineering, he now leaves his school, friends, and carefully honed bartender skills behind and heads to Denver for his first career position with a major global engineering firm.

Revisiting Denver recently was a fabulous opportunity to think about the exciting opportunities that await Drew – not only from a work perspective, but also in terms of skiing, hiking, biking and all the other untold outdoor adventures available.

But before he moves to Denver, last night we hosted a small graduation dinner at the Fitz on the shores of Lake Superior, and today we attended the graduation ceremonies!

Of course, it doesn’t hurt to have brilliant parents. We all know what he got in his upbringing and values from Karen. But if you see him, make sure you tell him that you can see where he gets his good looks, intelligence, poise and maturity. Work with me, will ya? Give a guy a break.

We wish Drew and his friends the best of experiences, good fortune, good health and happiness!  And of course all of our love.  Go Huskies!