OH HAPPY DAY!

FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL, SEPTEMBER 1987

Today has been a happy, happy day for our family!

Almost 21 years ago, our daughter, Kristen, entered the doors of Will-Moore Elementary School in Bismarck for the first day of kindergarten. Over the years she moved on to Hughes Junior High School and Bismarck High School, and then went on to college at Georgetown University in Washington, DC. She earned a B.A. degree from Georgetown in December 2005.

And today, she received her Master of Science degree in library science from Catholic University of America. Sadly, we were not able to be there, but we were there in spirit.

Effective June 1, she has been appointed director of acquisitions, serials and fast-track processing at the CUA library. (She was acting director of serials; this promotion brings a hefty raise!)

Kristen was a much-lauded student of languages in high school, taking first place in the state French and German exams, and earning the national gold metal in Latin. She studied German and French at Georgetown, eventually settling on French for her major.

But along the way, she changed her mind about her future vocation. We might have suspected that Kristen, a gifted reader, would someday turn to library science. I used to bring her to the Tribune after school some days, and my fellow reporters would marvel at this petite child, almost dwarfed by the newsroom desk she sat at, totally absorbed in reading books like "Gone With the Wind" and "The Stand."

Because she was interested in languages, I encouraged Kristen to go to Concordia College in Moorhead, Minnesota, just a three-hour drive away with a superb languages program. "I'm not going to a religious school (Lutheran)", she declared. (The truth: "I'm not going to college so close to home.")

It's a standing joke in our family that Kristen ended up attending two religious universities. Georgetown is a Jesuit institution, and CUA is obviously Catholic. And we are not Catholic!

For Kristen, a trip to the East coast at a tender age clinched her college decision for her. She fell in love with Georgetown and with the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, VA and would only consider and apply to those two.

Over the years, Kristen walked miles of hallowed hallways and entered many an ivy-clad building. She had some bumps along the way - problems with physical and emotional health - but she overcame her obstacles and bounced back better than before.

I salute her strong work ethic (yeah, she's a North Dakotan), her intelligence, her strength, her humor, her tender heart and her wisdom which is far beyond her years and far beyond mine.

To celebrate her graduation, she and her boyfriend are taking a trip to California. Well deserved, Kristen! We love you so much and we are SO proud of you. Love from Dad and me and the puppies, and Glori, Kelsey and Mike.

MAY 2008 GRADUATE OF CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA