Getting Pinned

We headed down to Springfield Technical Community College for my friend Mike Rooney's Graduation Pinning, on Wednesday night. He had toiled for 5 semesters, against odds far too numerous to list here, to successfully complete his schooling in the field of Respiratory Therapy. We attended the affair in Scibelli Hall...





Shreck, as he might be called by some, was easy to pick out from his group of fellow alumni.



The hall was jammed. Our gang got there just a little too late to get seats, and hung out on the back wall, like so many derelict teenagers.



The graduating classes weren't huge. This underscored the fact that there is a pressing need for more health care professionals (as several speakers mentioned), as well as spoke to the difficulty of the course. Finally, the man stepped up to receive his pin:



We done raised our boy right. Here, he fields a congratulatory call from the President:



The pinning acts as kind of a "Welcome into the Health-Care industry" ceremony. The actual graduation - cap and gown, etc., will take place at Symphony Hall in a couple weeks...

Afterwards, as is a STCC tradition from what I hear, we all headed down to Red Rose Pizza, one of the most acclaimed Italian restaurants of the South End of Springfield.



Our group ate and drank mightily. Great food as always, great service as always, maybe laughed and joked a little to loudly, as always. But before we knew it, we were the last ones in the place.





Afterwards, the night still young, some cocktails at Samuel's Tavern, another South End staple.



After a while it occurred to me that it was in fact Wednesday, not Friday. Time to get home...

It was a good night to celebrate a great accomplishment, by one of our own. Good Job, Mike.