Congrats to you and your son, I hope our little state treated you well during your visit. Love the mechanical puppet!

I hope our little state treated you well during your visit.

We always love visiting West Virginia however traffic in Morgantown is always less than wonderful!

I'm so glad to see people graduating from puppetry! Everytime I try to tell people my plans of the future they ask me "is that even possible?" Here is proof! There is soo much I want to ask like what kind of puppetry do they do/focus on? Musical Theatre Program? And what Scholarship did they give him?
Again congradulations and hope he continues to grow!

There is soo much I want to ask like what kind of puppetry do they do/focus on? Musical Theatre Program? And what Scholarship did they give him?

They touch on LOTS of different types of puppetry. He has built giant bunraku-type puppets, shadow puppets, rod puppets, muppet style puppets, mini rod puppets etc. etc.  One of the productions the college did incorporated human actors, masks (which is actually considered a type of puppetry), rod puppets, Bunraku puppets, hand puppets, Muppet style puppets and marionettes. It was impressive. Yes, there is a musical theatre program I believe. He got a full tuition waiver scholarship. My son experienced the same thing when he was is High School "You can get a degree in puppetry? Why would you do that?" etc..
Best of luck to YOU as you search!

Thank you I've been looking at U Conn and Ca lArts has a puppetry program as well

Those are fab puppets - I love the one with the mechanical punching arms! I've not seen something like that before.

Glad you got to see your son at graduation. My uni course had an optional graduation ceremony (with garb and hat), but so few of my fellow graduates (only 15 of us) were planning on attending, I didn't end up going myself. (I will add that we had a goodbye dinner at the university's cooking school, with food being provided by the school's students. We watched a recording of our last show, reminisced, and chatted with our lecturers. It was certainly more fun than standing around in cap and gown, but it would have been nice all the same to have done the official thing if nothing else, so my parents could have seen it)

My uni course had an optional graduation ceremony (with garb and hat), but so few of my fellow graduates (only 15 of us) were planning on attending, I didn't end up going myself.

Glad you found a way to celebrate! My son has had such a difficult last year (including breaking his right wrist - NOT good for a Puppetry major!) we wanted to make a BIG deal out of him finishing! He told us that someone had done a study which determined that students who do not attend their graduation ceremony feel anxious and nervous every May because they did not experience a sense of completion. So if you find yourself feeling nervous (however not in May for you down under, I assume it was November or December for you) maybe you could re-enact your graduation with puppets!!
Thanks for the comments on his puppets too!

That is great news.  I will be graduating soon too and cannot wait!  If your son is graduating with honors he must really be dedicated.  Congrats!

Glad you found a way to celebrate! My son has had such a difficult last year (including breaking his right wrist - NOT good for a Puppetry major!) we wanted to make a BIG deal out of him finishing! He told us that someone had done a study which determined that students who do not attend their graduation ceremony feel anxious and nervous every May because they did not experience a sense of completion. So if you find yourself feeling nervous (however not in May for you down under, I assume it was November or December for you) maybe you could re-enact your graduation with puppets!!
Thanks for the comments on his puppets too!

Yes, I can understand that nervousness! Although I think for me, it was more about leaving uni altogether. Because we had that dinner, there was less feeling like we didn't 'finish'. Our graduation ceremony would have been a mixed one, with the 15 of us lumped together with other graduating arts courses. Although I missed that moment, I am grateful at least we had the dinner. (We also have had a few semi-reunions over the years, with half the class. That's been quite good to have too)

For us it was probably early October we finish. Universities and schools generally finish in November/early December, but as we would often be rehearsing or performing during normal term breaks, we exchanged those dates for early 'release' at the end of the year.

it was more about leaving uni altogether

I think ALL of us can relate to that! My son remarked that it was a strange feeling, and scary thinking that he has to make his own life now! Transitions are always hard whether it is a graduation or a move to a new town even years after finishing college! At least puppets pack well and don't object to being boxed up! Our son comes home today to go through his room here at home to decide what he will take with him to his new place and what to get rid of and what Mom and Dad need to store for a while yet!