My brother graduated from college! We had a short, but fun weekend celebrating him in Searcy, Arkansas. I got to take some pictures of him early morning on campus before things got too crazy, and then we got some family and group pictures after the ceremony.
Christian graduated from Harding University, a school that almost everyone in our family has attended! Our parents actually met each other there when they were students! I went to undergrad AND grad school there, and met my husband there as well. It is a small campus, and easy to meet friends and to get to know teachers with smaller class sizes. Christian chose this school because he valued his education in a Christian environment and enjoyed his time there.
At HU, Christian was in a social club, the university's version of a fraternity. He has lived with several of these club members and has gone to their weddings. Christian served in some leadership roles in this club, which are voted on each semester by the club members. He was a spiritual life director and also an activities director and planned different club events from devotionals to tailgates and functions.
Christian also got to have the most amazing experience during his time at Harding when he spent a semester studying abroad in Florence, Italy!! Harding has a Florence campus with students traveling to study there each semester. The program is Harding University Florence, and always referred to as "HUF." I got to complete the HUF program when I was in school, too, and love hearing Christian's stories from his time there and knowing most of the cities and monuments he visited as I got to see them, too! Christian really enjoyed his semester abroad and had some amazing experiences. His favorite memories are spontaneously buying tickets to an FC Barcelona game, boating around Lake Como (scenes from Casino Royale, Oceans Twelve, and Star Wars: Episode II filmed at this insanely beautiful lake!) and also exploring Ireland. Once going to HUF, most people have the "travel bug," and need to keep traveling and seeing more sights. Christian has been bitten by the bug and is hoping to do some more traveling in between graduation and beginning his career!
Christian graduated with a Bachelor of Business Administration in Accounting and completed enough hours to begin sitting for the CPA exams. He has had some good internships that have helped prepare him, one in NWA where he lived with us this summer! I am very proud of him as he has already accepted a full time position with PricewaterhouseCoopers LLC in Fayetteville, Arkansas as an external audit associate!! He will begin his job next summer, and I am SO excited for him to live in town again!!
Our family was able to gather for graduation and celebrate all that Christian has accomplished over the past few years. He is finishing college as a different person than when he began as he has grown in all areas of his life. He is a confident, smart, and funny man, and I am so proud to call him my brother!
Congrats Christian!!!!