Sitting in the 102° University of California Merced sun, thousands of family members, friends, faculty and staff gathered from what has to be up to this point in UC Merced’s history, it’s most prestigious and proudest moment. Thanks to an incredible letter writing campaign started by students at the university and continued by its community, they achieved what other larger and more prestigious universities and schools haven’t been able to do. They got the First Lady, Michelle Obama to be the Keynote speaker at their graduation.

Up to that point, it had already been a long day for most family members and graduates. People had started arriving as early as 7:30 in the morning for a 1:30pm graduation. Some even attending smaller ceremonies on the small and remote campus.

The nervousness of people could be seen in the fast flitting eyes of the many who were working to bring this event to fruition. University staff and faculty darted about trying to get people and things in the right places. Police officials screened visitors through large metal detectors. Secret Service agents walked stoically among the crowd with dark sunglasses and occasionally speaking into the cuff of their coats. In the distance of the campus’ rooftops, small silhouettes could be seen raising binoculars to their eyes and shifting from one end of a rooftop to the other.

The nervous energy present earlier in the staff could now be felt spreading among the attendees even in the 100 plus degree weather. Eventually the time passed and the time grew closer for the graduation. Some of the elderly or those who did not drink enough water had to be attended to by Emergency Services only to ultimately be carted away to a shadier respite, no doubt where there was water and shade available.

It was then, after a few minutes of standing, saluting and crowd cheering did the graduation platform come onto the stage. During the few speeches and introductions before the First Lady’s commencement address, the vibe in the crowd was electric and soon enough erupted in tremendous applause when Michelle Obama stepped to the dais.

Mrs. Obama spoke about inspiration and giving back. Speaking confidently and directly to the crowd she talked about why she decided to make UC Merced the first university to give her very first commencement address as First Lady. She told the crowd that it was because the students and the people of Merced inspired her and touched her so much that she felt that she had to go. When referring to the vast diversity of Merced’s community and the struggles of their families to get their sons and daughters to this graduation, she asked them to give back to the community that gave them the very university that they were graduating from.

Reminding the crowd of graduates that “you are blessed”, and that everyone once in a while they should “bend down and let someone else stand on [their] shoulders”, and asking them to be the “realization of our dreams and the hope for the next generation”.

- Ronnie Revoredo

The Adventures of Flat Stanley

Not too long ago I received a special package in the mail from a young student named Rose.  Rose is at the Learning Center and has been reading the story of Flat Stanley by Jeff Brown.  Well can you believe to my great surprise, that special package that I received had Flat Stanley himself!  Along with Flat Stanley came a note from Rose asking if I could take Flat Stanley with me on some adventures.  Well, being the adventurous type, that's exactly what I did!

Our first stop was at the airport in San Diego, where we checked in, passed security and then went to our gate to wait for our flight.

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As we boarded the plane, several friendly crew members from Southwest airlines recognized Flat Stanley!  WOW, I had no idea he was such a big celebrity.  Well these friendly crew members invited Flat Stanley to meet the Pilot of a departing plane right up in the cockpit!  Can you believe it?  I sure couldn't.  It was quite a treat for both Flat Stanley and I.

Later on we boarded our flight and were greeted by the wonderful flight crew from Southwest Airlines to Sacramento, and then they introduced us to our Pilot and Co-Pilot who were super cool as well.  They even modeled for the camera!

After we took our seats, we took a look on the map to see where in California, Sacramento was.

When we finally got to Sacramento, we went straight to the car rental counter at Enterprise.

Upon arriving at our hotel room, we unloaded our camera equipment and set up the laptop so that we could blog about all of the days big events!

When we woke up the next day, we got ready to go to UC Merced for a big graduation, and this was a special graduation.  The President's wife, First Lady Michelle Obama was scheduled to show up!  Boy were we excited!  It was like a circus when we got there!  There were graduating students, teachers, police, Military, and Secret Service agents everywhere.  We had to go through metal detectors and everything.  Fortunately Stanley had no metal in him.

Stanley made a lot of friends while he was there!  He met video camera operators, UC Merced Bobcat football players, Secret Service agents and the entire crew that helped put on this event!

And he was given access to practically everywhere!

Later,  on the plane home we ran into the UCSD Women's Crew team!  They had just come back from a competition and had won bronze and silver medals.  Go Tritons!  The ladies immediately recognized Flat Stanley and wanted to take a picture with him, and everybody was all smiles!  They even put one of their medals on his neck!  It was great!

Flat Stanley and I are both so excited because this is just the beginning of many more adventures.  I can't wait to see what the rest of our adventures have in store for us!  

I will post more later....