Today was fun, I planned to go to Gaston College to pick up my diploma from fall and to go see Mr. Biggers’ new show. I ended up doing a lot more.
First, stopped in to pick up my diploma. After looking at my ID, the kind gentleman in the registrar’s office dashed over to the diploma bucket to flip through to look for mine. He dug for a while and then asked me to spell my last name again (never a good sign). After an exhaustive dig through the diploma bucket, he asked if I had petitioned in a different semester. I’m guessing from the question that people do not often petition in the semester before they are planning to receive their degrees. After telling the kind associate registrar that the petition was filed in summer, my diploma was located, but that was not where it ended. I had to talk another associate registrar (one who specializes in degree checkout, and whose initials appear on my initial degree form) to get my degree reconfirmed, since someone majorly screwed up and tried to process my degree for the summer term, and a note of a course substitution was not made properly. Since my degree had not been checked out it was not on the transcript correctly either, therefore the previous transcript I sent to Fayetteville was useless. Also, I inquired if my AFA (Associate in Fine Arts) would become automatically active, I was told that I would have to re-declare it because when she graduated me, the declaration was lost.
Per the college’s procedure, for all students without a declared program (I had literally been undeclared for like 5 minutes), I went directly to counseling to re-add my new major. After a 15 minute wait I was seen by Alice Williams, my favorite of the Gaston College counselors (she doesn’t waste time going over information I already know). After a very short time, maybe 5 minutes, I had my new form in hand, and went to drop the form off at admissions (there is something fundamentally wrong with picking up a diploma and visiting admissions on the same day).
After clearing that issue, I went to the business office to pay for a transcript I was about to request (makes things go faster if you pay first). Went back to the registrar’s office, where there was a short wait (during the wait, I filled out the form). I turned in my form, picked up my student copy and headed out of the office.
Finally, on to the other part of what I had planned for the day. Went to the Rauch Gallery to see Mr. Biggers’ show. It was much different than most exhibits I have seen. Art of all media, everything from digital prints to woven fabric was exhibited. The most memorable pieces were a giant chess set and an engraved wooden door. I did not see a public announcement of the opening reception, so therefore, I missed it, and I thought I had missed a chance to see Mr. Biggers, but just as I was finishing my tour of the enclosed gallery space (the gallery is the space as well as the connected hallway), Mr. Biggers came around the corner and saw me. We spoke briefly. It is much more enjoyable to see him to discuss a show after the reception than try to speak to him during it.
Overall not a bad day, got my diploma and saw Mr. Biggers’ show (and Mr. Biggers).
ex. 1 WebAdvisor Programs list
ex. 2 My diploma