Sorta Random Sunday: Congratulations Selenid! (Finally)

You all know that I think my wife, Selenid, is pretty cool. Mostly because it’s true. Despite there being a little obvious bias. But she really does some pretty cool stuff. That includes what we did this past weekend in NYC. She (finally) graduated from her doctoral program. So…congratulations Selenid!

I say that she (finally) graduated because technically she graduated two years ago in the Spring of 2020. But, you may remember that’s when a little thing called COVID started.

So, her graduation with most all over the country were cancelled. And then the same thing the following year as well.

But, I think what CUNY Graduate Center did was actually really nice. They kept in touch with all the 2020 and 2021 graduates and invited them to the in person 2022 graduation in NYC.

We had really been holding out hope for this and were super excited when Selenid received the invitation.

We decided to make a trip out of it with our kids and both of our moms joining us on the trip.

So, this past Saturday, Selenid, along with roughly 400 other graduate students from the classes of ’20-22, got to walk and celebrate their amazing accomplishments at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn.

It really was a great culmination of all of her hard work. During her doctoral studies and in the 2 years since completing her dissertation, Selenid managed to:

• Raise 2 incredible kids
• Publish her work in multiple top peer reviewed journals
• Win best young researcher award from the top publication in her field
• Speak nationally on topics in childhood literacy
• Contract to consult with national public and private literacy organizations to influence widespread policy
• Teach and mentor hundreds of undergraduate and graduate education students at Columbia University, Brooklyn College, Hunter College, and Buffalo State
• Deal with me as her husband

So, especially for her last accomplishment, please join me in saying “Congratulations Selenid!”