Graduation Eve at the University of Southern California

It's incredibly hard for us to believe, but it's been nearly four years since the August day our daughter moved into her first dorm at the University of Southern California.

Our daughter graduates tomorrow. Those four years went by in a flash! We are extremely proud of her...if I may be permitted a moment of parental pride, she has had straight A's for all four years in diverse fields of study (history, cinema, and geology) and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. And what wonderful adventures she's had, including a semester last year at the University of London's Queen Mary College.

This evening we drove up to the campus for the Baccalaureate service and dinner. The stage is set for tomorrow's main graduation ceremony in front of Doheny Memorial Library:

Chairs as far as the eye can see, including on the patio of the Von KleinSmid Center.

The Baccalaureate ceremony was held in Bovard Auditorium, which is a familiar sight in countless movies and TV shows, where it often stands in for Ivy League colleges:

Our one criticism of the Baccalaureate is that diversity in the service seemed to mean anything but Christianity. However, the overall campus is extremely friendly toward Christianity, along with other religions, and depending on a student's choices, at times it almost has the feel of a religious university. Our daughter has spent the last four years working in the religious life office and has served on the leadership team for her church group.

There's a new statue on campus, of school mascot Traveler:

Something else to protect from UCLA during the week before the USC-UCLA football game!

On to dinner for 1,000 on Pardee Way:

It was a beautiful event.

The 127th USC commencement ceremony will be shown in a live webcast beginning at 8:00 a.m. Pacific time on Friday the 14th. 5000 students will march into Alumni Park behind flags representing their schools. The main ceremony starts at 9:00 a.m. The guest speaker will be outgoing USC President Steven Sample.

After the main ceremony students split into smaller groups. Our daughter will be receiving her diploma from the History Department in the Shrine Auditorium later on Friday.

Alumni House:

We can't say enough good things about her experience at USC. Although I was dry-eyed when she graduated high school -- simply thrilled that she was outta there and moving on to better things -- I don't think that will be the case tomorrow. We are all sad her time at USC has ended, unless she returns one day for graduate school. We are now a Trojan Family for life!

Besides, our family's not leaving USC entirely. We are very excited that my first cousin was just named USC's assistant basketball coach by Coach Kevin O'Neill. So I expect we'll be returning to the Galen Center to watch the basketball team next season.

Fight on!

Update: Commencement Day at the University of Southern California.