Wednesday, December 13, 2017

Ray


Ray's winter break starts today. It is always good to see him and I'm so glad that he still comes home when he isn't at school. Even so, we don't see him much. He has friends and his girlfriend to spend time with and he needs to sleep in. Empty nest syndrome is a real thing. It's kind of a heartbreak...

Ray is a junior this year and will graduate with a degree in Chemical Engineering in May of 2019. He has five more quarters. The time has gone by so quickly. He has an internship lined up for the summer at a oil refinery in Ferndale, about 60 miles north of here. His girlfriend's apartment is about 20 minutes away so he will stay there while he is working. Last summer, he stayed in Seattle as he was working an unpaid research job at the University of Washington campus. He works there during the school year, too, studying very detailed chemical properties of perovskite solar cells. 

I have learned to remember the names of his classes but that is about as deep of an understanding that I have of any of it. Transport Processes in Chemical Engineering, Thermodynamics and Quantum Mechanics are pretty serious subjects. He is doing very well, though at the moment, he is nervously awaiting his final grades for the term. We are proud of him. He is organized and works hard and he calls us once a week. And he is happy!

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