Family grad gown brings good luck to Macquarie alumni
From left: Professor David Wilkinson, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Corporate & Engagement) Macquarie University, Adrien Byrne and ...
From left: Professor David Wilkinson, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Corporate & Engagement) Macquarie University, Adrien Byrne and Professor Mark Gabbott, Executive Dean (Faculty of Business & Economics).
Everyone has stories of their graduation, but when British Columbia-based alumnus Adrien Byrne travelled to Beijing recently to accept his Master of Politics and Public Policy degree, he wore a gown with its own stories to tell.
“The gown passed down to me from my mother, Nora, who graduated from University College Dublin over 30 years ago,” Adrien says.
“Her father bought the gown for her, as a graduation present before he died. Myself, my brother, and two cousins all graduated in different fields from Macquarie University over the years (me, twice), and all of us wore the gown.
Wearing the gown may have given them some of the luck of the Irish, he says.
“We’re all pretty successful now in different ways.”
Everyone has stories of their graduation, but when British Columbia-based alumnus Adrien Byrne travelled to Beijing recently to accept his Master of Politics and Public Policy degree, he wore a gown with its own stories to tell.
“The gown passed down to me from my mother, Nora, who graduated from University College Dublin over 30 years ago,” Adrien says.
“Her father bought the gown for her, as a graduation present before he died. Myself, my brother, and two cousins all graduated in different fields from Macquarie University over the years (me, twice), and all of us wore the gown.
Wearing the gown may have given them some of the luck of the Irish, he says.
“We’re all pretty successful now in different ways.”