Grad, Grad, Grad, Grad, and Dad -- Mom too

John Herdan writes:

The Herdan family may have set a record last week with four graduates in the family in one week. On Saturday May 17th our oldest son Michael (bottom photo) graduated from the University of Minnesota, Morris with a BS in Social Studies. Michael did his student teaching at Maple Grove Middle School and is currently looking for a job teaching and coaching next year.

Later on that same day our oldest daughter Katie (right) graduated from the University of Wisconsin, River Falls with a triple major BA in Spanish, Music, and Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL). Katie graduated Summa Cum Laude with a 3.98 grade point and was selected to sing at the graduation ceremony. She will be heading to Taiwan on July 16th to participate in an international jazz festival for one week. She then will remain at the same university to teach English for a month. When she returns in late August she will finish with plans to move to South America somewhere to teach English for the next year.

On Friday, May 23, our twins (below) graduated from St. Cloud Cathedral High School. David was the winner of the Louis Armstrong Jazz Award and is headed to the University of Wisconsin, River Falls to major in instrumental music with a performance emphasis. Jennifer was the winner of the High School Choral Award and is headed to Winona State University to major in accounting or some other math-related field.

On Saturday, we hosted a party that was attended by over 300 people, including 75 members of David and Jennifer's graduating class. Lot of musicians showed up with a jam session on the back patio running from 4 p.m. to after 8. Now we can relax and enjoy the summer.

Top photo: John, Judy, Katie, David, Jennifer, and Michael