Today I went to a graduation.  This wasn't any graduation but someone that use to work for me for a couple years.  He's older than me, has a family (two kids in high school) and never went to college before, although his wife has a masters so this was new to him.  He was going for all the right reasons.  He didn't like where he was nor where he was going so it was time to change it -- off to college he went.  The first couple classes in electronics, he brought in some questions from his homework (which I encouraged, I have a similar degree) so we used the whiteboard to draw out the whole thing and break it up so it's easy.  Each time we did so, at the end he'd shake his head "That's it?! Are you serious?" -- this was great, it let me know he was understanding how to make it simple.  To make it stick, I made a point to bridge what he was doing at the office with what he was learning so it was practical and useful in other places.  I also began to teach him how to ask exact questions to get the answer he wanted.  This went on almost daily as I was his manager/mentor.

Interestingly, he graduated exactly 5 years after I obtained my bachelors.  Same place, same time, just 5 years later.  It caused a moment of reflection of what I'd done in those 5 years and more importantly, I had a direct hand in someone's continuation of bettering himself.  It was a somewhat strange feeling watching him walk across the stage.  I'd guess it's the same feeling my parents had when I walked across that very stage -- I wasn't expecting that since I have no kids.  Strange as it was, it made me proud.

After his commencement, he told me he wants to talk -- thinking of the next step, "what's next".  I'm sure it'll be a great conversation because by now, he's fully outgrown his position where I use to manage.