One of my fondest memories is leading into graduation. I grew up in a small town in Missouri, and neither one of my parents went to college. And my mom and dad were with me, and they finally got to meet many of my friends that I’d been going through school with. And the night of our President’s Dinner, which is the night before graduation, we met at the Hyatt. And for the first time in my life, I saw my dad in a suit and tie, and that was a very special moment.
Then we sat through the dinner and Dr. Cleveland stood up and talked about the history of the school, and where the school started. How it started in a house, and then moved to where we were. And a couple of years after I graduated, the school had moved over to Overland Park. But sitting there, learning the history of where the school started, and how Dr. Cleveland had been a part of B.J. Palmer’s school, and had brought that down to Kansas City. And through the years, a lot of us have been able to go through that school and become chiropractors to continue on that principle of chiropractic.
That was one of the biggest moments, because I sat there knowing that within a few hours I would graduate, I’d get my diploma, and I would get to go out and serve people. And being able to do that has been the greatest reward over the last 15 years of my life because that night of learning that history, I became a part of the history of Cleveland. I get to carry that forward, not only to practice chiropractic but also help my patients live a better life through what we learned to do during my time at Cleveland.