J. ‘Bayo Adekanye, Jnr’s “Double Celebrations” of May 2019 in Far-away Houston, Texas, USA

Although Dr. J. ‘Bayo Adekanye, Jnr. had completed the prescribed course of studies and requirements to earn his post-Medic degree of Master in Public Health at the University of Texas School of Public Health, Houston, USA, as far back as May 2018, and had by that time been announced as one of the top 25% best of his class and honourees to be inducted as winners of the prestigious Delta Omega prize, he had missed the commencement ceremonies of that year, and had to wait until the following year in order to formally graduate. By Saturday May 18, 2019, he had completed all the necessary formalities and was ready to file out to receive both his degree and the meritorious Delta Omega prize.

The Graduation ceremonies, when they came, were to turn out as “double celebrations” for JBayo in far-away Houston. For exactly two days after filing out to receive both his MPH degree and the honorary Delta Omega prize, JBayo was marking his birthday anniversary as he clocked exactly 31 years old on May 20, 2019. Combined, the two events were enough ground for the celebrant to have expected that his parents would travel down to Houston to be part of both the Graduation and Birthday celebrations; and travel to Houston in May 2019 his father and mother would have done, but for the fact that those celebrations were close to Ayomide’s expected date of delivery (see below). Being a Medic himself, JBayo had thought that it would be better for Dad and Mum to stay and see Ayomide through the delivery period, though not until he had managed to wring a promise to make up later for being absent from those Houston celebrations!

Actually, the Houston celebrations comprised of multiple ceremonies and events that could not have been adequately captured by the two terms ‘Graduation’ and ‘Birthday’. For example, as often is the case with graduating students who, being both foreign and temporarily employed, are planning to relocate either from the country or workplace or both soon after their commencement/graduation ceremonies, JBayo’s May 2019 Graduation was preceded a week to the actual Graduation Day by a small lunch-time get-together which the celebrant along with a number of former course mates and colleagues had organised for themselves. Totalling some 15 to 18 in number, those at the pre-Commencement/Graduation May 11, 2019 get-together luncheon party comprised individuals who had secured part-time employment working as Research Assistants, along with a few of their bosses from the various Departments or Units at the School of Public Health, University of Texas, Houston. The purpose of that pre-Graduation get-together was to use opportunity of the brief luncheon meeting to congratulate one another on their impending congratulation ceremony, say the final good-bye, and wish each other the very best in their respective future endeavours.     

    

For JBayo, the Graduation/Commencement event of Saturday May 18, 2019 itself had involved not just being called up and filing out to receive the MPH Degree certificate for which he had qualified, as well as for the induction into the Delta Omega Honorary Society in Public Health, University of Texas at Houston Chapter, of which he had been announced as one of the proud winners in 2018, but immediately following up on those ceremonies with a private photography session specifically devoted to the taking of photographs with a select number of lecturers, class/course mates, friends, relatives, and invited guests attending the graduation (see Adekanye Graduation by 1352 pixiesset.com) for commemorating the occasion. Other photographs later taken by JBayo regarding the event showed him not just arrayed in his full academic regalia, but also proudly holding the Master’s in Public Health (MPH) Degree Certificate, as well as the Honourary Delta Omega Award, that he had received on the Graduation/Commencement Day. One of the subsequent shots, still, showed JBayo as a Research Assistant posing with his boss and Research Collaborator Professor William Perkison.    

Of course, Graduation ceremonies are not complete without a post-Graduation dinner party of one kind or the other. JBayo’s post-Graduation dinner for four took place in the evening of that same Graduation Day. A small and modest affair, the party had involved treating a few of the close friends he had in Houston to dinner for four, including his boss at workplace Professor William Perkison, which held at one of the most popular Mexican eateries, the Hugo’s Restaurant, Houston.

As if for capping all the celebrations, JBayo’s May 20^th Birthday Anniversary was marked by a Surprise Birthday Party at his workplace at the School of Public Health, University of Texas, Houston. Organised by his fiancée then based at Calgary, Alberta, Canada, and from whom also came delivered as a good the Birthday Cake for the event, the party was attended by a couple of their Houston-based ex-UCH (Nigeria) alumni/ae who had been privy to the planned surprise event (the fellow “conspirators”), plus a few of JBayo’s workmates, and his supervisors.