Corpus Christi

Friday, April 8 - We met up with John and Bridgette at the airport about 1:00 on Thursday, they made the drive from Houston in a little over 4 hours.  Our first stop was Whataburger again (for John, this time), then we came back to the coach and turned our Explorer over to them, so they could go to campus and get things set up for tomorrow.  Bridgette needed to check in with Greg, her Ph.D. professor, and John needed to set up a meeting with Greg and some other people regarding the consultant work he had been doing for them.  We sat outside in the campground with a bird's eye view of the Blue Angels practicing for this weekend's air show.  They flew so low over us we could see the numbers on their tail fins.  That went on for almost an hour.  Then the kids came back and picked us up and we went over to Megan and Brian's where they are staying, then went out to dinner at one of their old haunt's, Montana Mike's.  Brian is a fireman and was at work, so only Megan was able to go with us.  Then they dropped us back at the RV and headed back there for an early night.  It had been a long day for them.

Friday, the big day, started off pretty early.  I was pretty sure Bridgette wouldn't sleep in, and they came and got us for breakfast shortly after 8:00.  Then we went to campus and they took care of the things on their agenda.  While Bridgette met with Greg, John took us through one of the labs and showed us the shark tags they had used.

When Bridgette met back up with us, she had us go through her slides with her for any  last minute edits, then John went to his 11:30 meeting.  Then we just hung out until time.  The minutes went past pretty slowly for Bridgette.  But then she put on her "power shoes" which she said makes her feel like she can conquer the world, and she was ready!

The room filled and, finally, 1:00 arrived. 

Bridgette did a fantastic job, her presentation was very interesting, and she handled the questions at the end very well. When the slide of her bio appeared, it was amazing to see all she had accomplished while she was here, including scholarships, grants, publications, balloon launching, and the various other activities and achievements she was involved with.  Texas A&M Corpus Christi Harte Institute, and we, are very proud of her and congratulate her on this!

Then she had to wait another half hour for the final "behind-door" questioning because Greg had an emergency meeting at 2:00, but he was available by 2:30 and they took her in and quizzed her for another 90 minutes. But then it was all over, and let me present, "DR. BRIDGETTE FROESCHKE."  CONGRATULATIONS TO YOU!

A group of about 10 of us all went out for dinner at Frank's, then the rest of the group went on to party at Cassidy's, but Joe and I were ready to call it a day.  We now have two Doctor Froeschkes in the family, what an amazing concept.  They both had lot of obstacles to overcome during this long road, but now it's over and they both have jobs.  Well, since John's is a "contract government" job, he may only have a job for one more week, unless the government gets the budget signed. But Bridgette has a full-time position with University of Tampa starting June 1, where she is has been an adjunct professor this year. We are coming back here next month to see her walk at graduation, then I think we will all be done with Corpus Christi, Texas.