CBA Graduation Ceremony Turns Into Father-Daughter Night

This year’s graduation celebration for the College of Business Administration (CBA) brought Michael Schear and his daughter Jackie full circle.

In 1981, Michael was finishing up work on a bachelor’s degree at CBA. But, arriving a little earlier than expected, was a finals week excuse no professor could overlook – the birth of Jackie, almost a year to the day of Michael and his first wife’s anniversary. His wife had healing problems after the delivery, leaving the young college student in charge of caring for a newborn.

Michael missed a few exams, pushing back completion of his degree. Instead of marching at Commencement and "getting to shake someone’s hand, all I got to do was take the stamp off the package" when the diploma arrived in the mail, says Michael.

The opportunity to improve on that memory came in 2003, with Jackie finishing up work in the same accounting program that her father had attended at CBA and preparing to take part in this year’s graduation.

"I was getting ready for my own graduation, and he brought up the fact the he had never gotten to walk (for his degree)," says Jackie. "So he asked me, ‘Do you think this might be a time I could do it, too?’ So we asked the college if it was a possibility."

It was an unusual request, but after several discussions, word came back that Michael could participate in this year’s ceremony. So, on the evening of June 13 at the Fifth Third Arena at Shoemaker Center, first daughter and then father made the ceremonial march to mark the completion of their undergraduate education.

"I didn’t mind at all," laughs Jackie of sharing the day with her dad. "I got my name called first, so I still got to have my glory."

She also enjoyed the added honor of graduating magna cum laude from CBA.

"She graduated from the exact same college I did, exactly 22 years later, and I got to share in that," said Michael. "Walking up that aisle is an experience everyone should get to enjoy at least once."

Jackie will work with her father in the family’s business, a violin rental and sales firm in Roselawn called Antonio Violins.

Father and daughter have a strong connection where the business is concerned as well. Michael only became interested in violins when researching instruments for Jackie to take up so she could participate in fifth-grade band.

Both have a gift for repairing and building violins. Jackie will also be of great help to her father because of the international business aspects of her CBA experiences. She traveled to Chile on a CBA trip for three weeks this past winter, and has also visited Israel, Japan and several parts of Europe.

Jackie can speak several languages, and will re-enroll for classes in the fall at UC’s Raymond Walters campus to add to her basic understanding of Chinese. Most violins today are made in China, and her father expects his daughter to be able to travel to China and take care of the company’s business.

"Traveling is definitely my passion," says Jackie, who will be given one month a year of vacation in her new job to pursue international trips. "It was great how many opportunities to travel there were through my education. I had some understanding that (students) were going out into the real world to gain experience, but I never expected the opportunities that came to me to go into the Middle East or the other countries I was able to visit."