Our Handsome Hardworking Intelligent Dedicated Loving Superb GRADUATE!

Our family drove to Cedar City on Thursday. On Friday Ben defended his Masters Internship before a committee of 4 professors from the Communication Department. I was able to watch. Ben was magnificent and impressive. They approved and passed him with flying colors. Ben now has under his belt a Masters of Arts in Professional Communication*.

Now, I'd like to delve a little in what Ben has had to go through to get this MPC from SUU. Here is a list:

-Ben has always worked while getting his degrees. At one time he had THREE jobs while going to school full-time earning his Masters. His jobs were:
+Teacher/Student Aid in a 2nd grade classroom
+Student Advisor for Undergraduates at SUU
+Intern at the Cedar City Economic Development Department
+Assistentship which involved teaching an Intro to Advertising
course at SUU
+Designing Logos "on the side" for a friend who owns a Graphic Design
Business

-Ben tried his hardest to be home for dinner and I can't remember a week that we didn't have a date night.

-He has had a wife and 2 daughters through all of this, one of the daughters was BORN during his first finals week! Thanks to a wonderful Mother-in-Law who came to help that first week, we made it through, but Ben was there so much of the time and was able to spend much time with both of the girls, somehow writing paper after paper after paper in his spare moments.

-Anytime Ben was at home he was fully dedicated to us girls. He would take them out to the park while I finished dinner, or he would try to wash the dishes before he had to go to class etc, etc, etc.

-There was never a Sunday that Ben opened his textbooks or was on the computer typing a paper. He kept it the Lord's day and we have felt the blessings of that.

-Through all this, Ben received very high grades.

-The last three weeks Ben has left early in the morning, worked on his final projects, taught his classes, prepared lectures, helped students, come home for dinner and a few hours with us and at bedtime gone back to work on his paper until midnight. He did this for 3 weeks to finish up and he never complained.

-He knows he does not walk alone and relies constantly on the Lord's help and guidance.

I wrote in my journal "I feel grateful for Ben and for his hard work and willingness to provide. He has done so much over the last few years. He has done it quietly, unselfishly, painstakingly, sometimes sleeplessly and without Pomp and Circumstance. My heart celebrates in him, his hard work, faith, humility, talent, skill, love, support, gentleness, patience, beauty..."

What a giant of a being Ben is. Thank you Ben and congratulations!!

*For those of you interested, this is what his degree entails:
The Master of Arts in Professional Communication is an applied, professional degree. The degree is designed to focus on advanced applied research skills required for effectiveness in the communication industry. Survey findings and discussions with industry representatives indicate that for most enrollees this degree will be a terminal preparation for industry success. The program is available to candidates from, though not limited to, industrial settings where companies need research capabilities for advertising and public relations campaigns, internal organizational analysis, human resource development, and media production.

Ben is headed in the direction of Organizational Consulting. Which, for those of you interested entails this:
Customer Relations (internal and external)
High Performing Team Development
Executive Coaching
Employee Retention
Leadership Development
Establishing organizational cultures that facilitate sustained high performance
Conflict Management
Communications Systems and Skills Reward Systems & Performance Management
Executive & Virtual Team Development and Coaching
Strategic Planning
Organizational Needs Assessment
Facilitating meetings Mergers and other times of transition (e.g. changes in top management)
Creating new businesses and/or restructuring existing ones

It is possible that we will be headed for more schooling, Ben would like to pursue an MBA to give him more of the business side of things. That may be in the near future...we'll keep you posted on that!