Leatherneck Nation

Went to the graduation ceremony this evening for master's degree students (my sister-in-law was getting her MBA).

Noticed that former Leatherneck football players Lucas Holder, Nick Ziegenbein, and Nathan Knuffman were all receiving master's degrees too.

I'm sure there's other athletes that were also, but I am most familiar with the football players.

Dr. Thomas speech is titled it’s always the right time to do what’s right.

I watched today's ceremony on the net. A few hundred more graduates now join the long purple line. I saw a tweet that the alumni base is currently around 130K. Kids graduate, move on in life, have families and other important concerns. I think there is a tendency to forget about your alma mater in those years immediately after graduation. Somehow, someway, the university needs to keep in touch with them and reward them for giving back on a regular basis. I have said it before, little things matter. Maybe a small token of appreciation like a lapel pin signifying how many years they have donated would be appropriate. Or maybe something like a military medal which can be enhanced with oak leaft clusters based on years donating would work better. Award each graduate the medal at graduation time and send out the oak leaf clusters for future continued participation. This approach might make Rock very proud.