The sun is shining, the snow has melted and seniors are stressing. Who doesn’t love spring?
Graduation is right around the corner and students are already buying caps and gowns.
Griffen Winget | Argonaut
They’ve sent out graduation letters, set up post-grad interviews and walk around with flashing dollar signs in their eyes. However, some seniors opt not to buy the gowns or send out letters, and instead, spend their graduation time elsewhere rather than on the stage.
This is a strategy I would love to employ. Sadly I am beholden to masters in the form of family.
They’re already planning the day — my day. Where to eat? They’ve planned it. What to wear? That’s already done.
Let’s break down what commencement really means to graduate.
It’s a time to dress up in a hot gown and stand on stage with hundreds of other students you have had classes with but barely even know.
You stand for too long listening to people with expensive sounding titles. They wear colorful robes and tassels that look a little bit cultish. Fake smiles are fixed into place as they call out your name and shake your hand. Their face and yours search the crowd for the right camera lens to look at and you both try not to blink as a barrage of flashes go off.
All the while, your parents, aunts and uncles, grandparents and friends sit and watch you get an empty folder — a folder that will be filled with a piece of paper in about three weeks.
On top of everything, you must pay for the privilege of enduring those arduous hours — $60 to be exact.
I’d rather not do all the standing and waiting for a measly 10 seconds in the poorly lit spotlight.
Instead, take your family, or even a group of friends, and do something.
The only requirement is that it must be something you want to do — whether that means going to a restaurant for lunch or hiking or even sitting at home, commiserating about the past years of university and where you’ll be going now. Seniors have put in hundreds of hours sitting in class, taking notes and passing tests.
They should be allowed to skip a meaningless ceremony without fear of social repercussions.
It is, after all, a day celebrating their four years of hard work.
One thing I will say about commencement is that it has a sense of finality.
Once you walk off that stage, “diploma” in hand, you’re putting the bow on your college career.
You take your first steps into the real world in that moment and hopefully, leave homework and tests where they belong — in your memories. It is my belief those final moments and first steps should be taken with those who matter most.
Graduation should happen in a place of your choosing and at a time that works for you.
Griffen Winget can be reached at [email protected]