An endearing name that Grandpa (Johnnie) Carnline used to call each of our sons was Master Carnline.
None of us realized, at the time, just how prophetic that statement would be.
Our oldest son, Mitchell Carnline, has recently earned his Master's Degree.
The first steps on the path to his career were not necessarily headed toward a Master's Degree.
"I wonder what I will be when I grow up"
Mitch at Apollo College Graduation
Mitch attended Apollo College in Spokane Washington to be a Radiologic Technologist which would take him 2 years to complete.
For his second year he went to St. John's Medical Center in Longview Washington.
Moving to Longview gave their small family a chance to live close to Grandma and Grandpa Rodeback and several Aunts and Uncles.
When he finished school, Mitch went back to Spokane to work as a Rad Tech at Valley Hospital and Medical Center.
He worked there for 4 years.
Mitch was asked to teach at Apollo and began teaching simultaneously within six months of returning to Spokane.
He also worked for a short time at Mount Carmel Hospital in Colville Washington.
While teaching, Mitch was approached by the current Dean, his former instructor, and was asked to continue his education so that he could become the program director.
A bachelor's degree was required, so Mitch started his second degree six months after becoming an instructor, one year after graduating from Apollo.
"I guess I better get busy and study"
(Sorry this picture is so blurry)
Mitch was an instructor in the medical radiology program for over three years, for two of those years he was working full-time and going to school full-time.
When the Dean's position opened up at Apollo, he "went out on a limb", applied, and got the job!
He had also just completed his bachelor's degree.
After Mitch became Dean of Academic Affairs, Apollo College became Carrington College.
Mitchell will have been Dean for three years in December.
From the time that Mitch became the Dean he was required to continue his education and began working on his Master's Degree.
He earned his Master's with a Concentration in General Management from Keller School of Management this fall.
"I'm gonna get a Master's Degree?"
Family and friends met at Red Lobster to celebrate his achievement.
Aaron, Katelyn, their kids, Tracianne, and I (mom) traveled from Wenatchee to meet with Pam's family, Matt and Jolene's family, and Chad and Stefanie Walter's family.
The whole group was able to surprise Mitch at the restaurant.
We had a lot of fun and ate way too much food.
After I returned home to Wenatchee the following day, I decided I wanted to post something on my blog.
On Tuesday evening, October 25th, I sat at my computer to write and realized that I did not have many facts about Mitch's accomplishments, so I started texting Pam to get specifics.
After I had all the "boring" details, I asked her if there were an anecdote or funny story that I could tell about Mitch's path to his Master's Degree.
I did not receive another text for about 25 minutes.
At about 10pm my cell phone started ringing with Pam's ringtone.
"Oh, she must have something to tell me--and it's too much to text," were my thoughts as I answered my phone.
However, the story that I heard was that Pam's water had "broke" and they were preparing to drive to the hospital to see if a couple babies were on their way to meet their parents.
But...that is another story, heavily documented on Facebook and several family blogs.
Congratulations Master Mitchell Carnline
--job well done!!!
Mitch leading the pack on our hike at Ohme Garden's this summer.
He is holding Ricky. Dustin, Lily, and Tracianne follow.
It must be pretty exhausting to get a Master's Degree!
