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Arrow River farm boy receives MIT master's

Connecting The Dots
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Columnist, Anne Davison

Colleges and universities have yielded their talent this spring, VCI graduates will toss their grad caps high in two weeks. Maybe some parents are wondering where the time went, saying, ‘how did this happen?’

That was me last week.

How did Micah Davison, born and raised on an Arrow River cattle farm in the RM of Miniota (now Prairie View) receive a master in City Planning from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, MA?

Sometimes there are clues and we miss them. Frankly, I don’t think that his parents were much help (I should know, I am one of them). He dreamed bigger than we ever could.

Micah seemed to have been born with an atlas in one hand and a chess board in the other. As a child and young teen he would pore over maps and challenge anyone (including a professional chess player on a family trip to Phoenix) to a chess match.

Urban planning was a good fit.

MIT welcomes students from around the globe, including a Canadian with a BA from Simon Fraser University. And, perhaps Micah’s adventurous American wife, Jen, had something to do with his choices.

While completing a master’s thesis is a milestone for anyone, for Micah it was a long-time coming. He wrestled with some life issues, putting his education on the back-burner for a few years.

When we met MIT staff advisors, thesis readers and supportive Boston friends, we were reminded of the bigger picture – a wider world of people are involved in our kids’ lives.

We haven’t forgotten the community of friends, neighbours and family who have been supportive all along our son’s path, and those who helped Micah to travel as an HCI (Hamiota) student bound for the Philippines, and then Ecuador, with Teen Mission International.

Last week in Cambridge was a mountain peak, as I look back. Both for him and for us.

On a beautiful 22-degree Friday, June 7, commencement exercises took place on a lawn surrounded on three sides by the white buildings of MIT. Nearly 3,000 graduates received master’s and bachelor’s degrees.

We heard guest speaker Michael Bloomberg, UN’s Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for Climate Action challenge graduates not to wait on government measures to fix the world. Bloomberg isn’t. He announced a $500 million gift towards mitigating climate change.

Like Ambassador Paul Altidor (Embassy of Haiti), who spoke at an awards ceremony the night before, Bloomberg challenged the graduates to solve the problems of the day.

Micah and his wife are now residents of Minneapolis, MN, where Jen is studying law. But that young man has Arrow River grit under his fingernails.

So parents, be patient with the journey that your son or daughter may embrace. It’s their journey, not yours.

 

 

 

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