So I just graduated! Wooo hoo! It was yesterday by the time I'm posting this blog... I'm writing it the day of though. May 18th basically. Lol. So here's just kind of what my experience was with it.
I went to a small school, the Newark campus of Rutgers which isn't the smallest campus ever, but its pretty small and its mostly commuter. So thats just a little frame of reference. The ceremony itself was at the Prudential Center, which is a big venue... which is pretty nice because we didn't end up needing tickets for the guests or anything. It was pretty good.
So I liked the way that I graduated because I finished all my classes a long time ago. I finished back in December and just waited until May to graduate cause I wanted a bigger graduation than the December one. It just seemed easier and I'm happy I did it that way. I'm glad that I didn't need to take finals or anything right before graduation because I had a bunch of stuff to do. I did take easier classes in my last semester, so nothing would have been terribly difficult anyway... but I'm happy I had a bit of a gap, it was a little less stressful. In some aspects it was a little tougher to wait... I did just want to get it over with and I kind of had it hanging over my head for a little while that I was done with school but not graduated... it was weird. It was nice having a little bit of space in between and now I'm super happy I didn't have to take exams or write papers right before graduation... but you know. Get it done as early as you can... but if its later than you can, its okay! It's hard to do finals and write papers plus get prepared for this big thing! Its not bad to wait in that aspect.
I don't really know a lot of people from my school to be honest. I'm friendly with people from my classes, I like talking to people before classes start, so like I know people but there was no one I was BFFS with or anything. In my school, you got to sit with your friends during the ceremony and they would call you in the order you were sitting in instead of alphabetical order. (they had us fill out a card with how to pronounce our name on it and stuff, we handed it to them right before going up and they just said it how it was on the card and they displayed our name on a jumbotron... which was cool.) If you can't sit near your friends or you don't really know anyone to sit next to... thats okay. Just talk to the people near you! Make new friends! Some people aren't friendly, some people are super friendly and chill. So thats good! Its fun to just look to the person next to you and say "are you excited!" or "What's your major" or something like that. Its easy to be nice, so just make a friend!
Bring someone you know that is good with a camera or has a fancy camera! The school takes photos also, but a) I think it was other students doing it at mine... not bad, but you know. B) They don't take many pictures. My sister's boyfriend is a photographer with a fancy camera and he took a lot of great pics at the graduation and when I got home he took some at my house. If not, you could get pictures taken beforehand! My friend had my sister's boyfriend take pictures of her in her cap and gown beforehand and they came out great and she used them for her resume! If you don't have anyone with a fancy camera, just have your parents take some with a cell phone! lol. That works well too! And even just the ones the school takes are probably great too, there just won't be as many and there won't be any with your family. I'm happy I can look back on the day with memories...
Speaking of memories... DON'T SPEND THE WHOLE CEREMONY ON YOUR PHONE! Ohhh my gosh! The girl next to me was texting and taking selfies the whole time! Like really? You only graduate once, you can text literally every second of the rest of your life. Give yourself time to just be excited about starting a new chapter in your life! You payed money for this, or your parents did or somebody did! Don't friggin text the whole time! I can understand having your phone on you... I'll get to that in a minute... I can even understand one text or a selfie or a snap... but don't do it the whole time! Do you really want to tell your kids one day "Yeah I forget my graduation. I was to busy texting someone I'm not friends with anymore." Nooo! Don't be stupid!
Also the girl next to me is in a lot of my pictures... friggin texting! Can you imagine all your pictures being of you texting! Stupid! Lol.
So I didn't have my phone with me at all during the ceremony because I'm not one to keep things in my bra, and I'm sure I would have lost it had that happened. I also don't love sneakily holding anything. I went to Catholic School so my High School Graduation was also a Mass and I was participating in some aspect of that... I think there were donations or something I was bringing up in a basket. Basically I had to carry a basket to the stage. And I had a program in my hand... totally didn't even realize it until I was up there... and then I was like "OH MY GOD! WHAT DO I DO WITH THIS PROGRAM??? WHY DID I BRING THIS UP HERE! EVERYTHING IS GOING TO BE TERRIBLE NOW!" Lol. The girl that was bringing the basket up with me (or guy? I think it was a girl, I kind of remember who) was good at calming me down and said "Ohhh just stick it in your sleeve" so I did that... and it worked! It didn't really fall out or anything. It stayed put nicely, but I looked kind of like my arm was robotic... so you can see I didn't want to do that with my phone.
The problem with that is that then you don't quite know where your family is in the audience. Everyone was calling their parents and waving to them and showing them where they were and telling them where to sit. I couldn't do that of corse... but somehow I lucked out! My sister's boyfriend happened to choose the seats and he chose right nearby me, and my sister has very beautiful super curly hair and a bright green dress on, so she was easy to spot, so I noticed them and just started waving and eventually my mom saw me and was like "That's my baby!!!" And waved back with both arms!
I wasn't quite as lucky when we left the ceremony however. The guests left before the students, and everyone was everywhere on their phones trying to find their parents... and I was like "ohhh shit I don't have a phone" So I was just kind of looking and panicking and hoping someone would see me. I went to the car... but my sister and my mom didn't think I would find the car in the big parking lot... so no one stayed in the car. Lol. I eventually saw my sister and her boyfriend again because my sister had a bright green dress and her boyfriend had a giant camera... it all comes in handy! I didn't decorate my cap, so it was a little hard to find. Have a designated meeting spot or something if you think you're going to have this problem and you don't want to bring your phone.
Btw if you don't decorate your cap... its okay. I was thinking of putting a quote from a comedian on it or something because that pertains to my life and the work I'm going into... but... I have messy handwriting and I'm just kind of a sloppy person... so everything I make kind of has that "Oh you did this yourself" type of feel... which I didn't want for my graduation. Lol. Plus... I'm not 100 percent on board with the trend. Its cute and creative... but how many of the same quotes are there? Not super original, some of them are just tacky... and they can be cute and creative and a nice keepsake... but I'm not all for it. Like someone had a poop emoji on their cap... really?
Here's something I'm going to say to kind of do... listen to commencement speeches, but don't necessarily. I didn't know who my speaker was... and I had to wake up at 4 in the morning to be there... so I was kind of falling asleep... not gonna lie. It can be boring. Sometimes it can just seem like they're saying buzzwords. "Diploma. Future. Smart. College. Commencement. Name of your School. Future Occupations. Ferguson. Smart. Future. This is what you're doing to make a difference in the world." Those types of things. Not saying anyone at my school did that... but it happens. A lot of times they have politicians doing commencements and there is a good chance you might not agree with whoever is speaking, and you might not be able to get past that. I think thats okay... but there is a lot to be learned from Commencement Speeches in general. They kind of tell you some useful life advice and a lot of times they can be funny and entertaining. If there is a celebrity that you like that spoke at a college, look up their speech! I know Maya Rudolph just did one, Amy Schumer and Mindy Kaling did them last year, Barack and Michelle Obama both have them... pretty much every year I think. Lol. Its something I think you can enjoy and learn from at any age.
Also if you are writing a commencement speech... a laugh or two never hurt anyone. My sister had Tim Russert speak at her graduation and he was fun to listen to and entertaining. He passed away a few years ago, but he was a political reporter... and it wasn't like his speech was overly political or anything. He wasn't like "This is what is wrong with our country because George Bush is president" or anything like that... he just talked about graduation and life advice and things like that. I was too young to understand if he said anything important... and not gonna lie I was reading Princess in Pink by Meg Cabot, so I was more concerned with Mia Thermopolis's troubles... but its important. I don't pay attention if there are NO LAUGHS! Even a failed attempt at a laugh is better than impersonal buzzwords and things like that. So yeah.
Another thing I thought was kind of cool is that I knew the teacher that handed me my diploma... not something that always happens really, but when you have a small school... it does happen. And I really liked this teacher, it was the class I took on The Wire, which I've mentioned before on this blog and I thought it was really interesting. For me the class was an English Class but it was also considered Sociology I believe and it was taught by a Sociology professor (her I think it was sociology... maybe criminal justice... but I'm pretty sure sociology or psychology) and an english professor and it was just an interesting mix and they both had something interesting to bring to the table. If you're going to Rutgers Newark and the class is available, definitely take it! I felt like I got choked up at that, even though I don't even know this professor all that well. I only had one class with her... but it was a good class and I was happy she was the person handing me my diploma. So thats a little bonus I guess.
Also don't get nervous about the small stuff. I was freezing cold before entering the Prudential Center and I was afraid I was going to trip and or throw up and or poop my pants. I made it through the graduation without doing any of those things! I feel like if I can make it through without those things, you can too! I do fall and throw up a lot at embarrassing times... I've never pooped my pants as an adult, but ever since that Friends episode where Chandler tells Monica that Ross ate Tacos and pooped his pants on Space mountain... I'm always afraid of doing that in public! Lol. Or throwing up on a roller coaster... Is this TMI? Probably.
Soooo on that weird note... thats that! I'm done! Now I have to find some form of employment or something... yikes.
Byeeeee! And Congrats!
-Shannon
I went to a small school, the Newark campus of Rutgers which isn't the smallest campus ever, but its pretty small and its mostly commuter. So thats just a little frame of reference. The ceremony itself was at the Prudential Center, which is a big venue... which is pretty nice because we didn't end up needing tickets for the guests or anything. It was pretty good.
So I liked the way that I graduated because I finished all my classes a long time ago. I finished back in December and just waited until May to graduate cause I wanted a bigger graduation than the December one. It just seemed easier and I'm happy I did it that way. I'm glad that I didn't need to take finals or anything right before graduation because I had a bunch of stuff to do. I did take easier classes in my last semester, so nothing would have been terribly difficult anyway... but I'm happy I had a bit of a gap, it was a little less stressful. In some aspects it was a little tougher to wait... I did just want to get it over with and I kind of had it hanging over my head for a little while that I was done with school but not graduated... it was weird. It was nice having a little bit of space in between and now I'm super happy I didn't have to take exams or write papers right before graduation... but you know. Get it done as early as you can... but if its later than you can, its okay! It's hard to do finals and write papers plus get prepared for this big thing! Its not bad to wait in that aspect.
I don't really know a lot of people from my school to be honest. I'm friendly with people from my classes, I like talking to people before classes start, so like I know people but there was no one I was BFFS with or anything. In my school, you got to sit with your friends during the ceremony and they would call you in the order you were sitting in instead of alphabetical order. (they had us fill out a card with how to pronounce our name on it and stuff, we handed it to them right before going up and they just said it how it was on the card and they displayed our name on a jumbotron... which was cool.) If you can't sit near your friends or you don't really know anyone to sit next to... thats okay. Just talk to the people near you! Make new friends! Some people aren't friendly, some people are super friendly and chill. So thats good! Its fun to just look to the person next to you and say "are you excited!" or "What's your major" or something like that. Its easy to be nice, so just make a friend!
Bring someone you know that is good with a camera or has a fancy camera! The school takes photos also, but a) I think it was other students doing it at mine... not bad, but you know. B) They don't take many pictures. My sister's boyfriend is a photographer with a fancy camera and he took a lot of great pics at the graduation and when I got home he took some at my house. If not, you could get pictures taken beforehand! My friend had my sister's boyfriend take pictures of her in her cap and gown beforehand and they came out great and she used them for her resume! If you don't have anyone with a fancy camera, just have your parents take some with a cell phone! lol. That works well too! And even just the ones the school takes are probably great too, there just won't be as many and there won't be any with your family. I'm happy I can look back on the day with memories...
Speaking of memories... DON'T SPEND THE WHOLE CEREMONY ON YOUR PHONE! Ohhh my gosh! The girl next to me was texting and taking selfies the whole time! Like really? You only graduate once, you can text literally every second of the rest of your life. Give yourself time to just be excited about starting a new chapter in your life! You payed money for this, or your parents did or somebody did! Don't friggin text the whole time! I can understand having your phone on you... I'll get to that in a minute... I can even understand one text or a selfie or a snap... but don't do it the whole time! Do you really want to tell your kids one day "Yeah I forget my graduation. I was to busy texting someone I'm not friends with anymore." Nooo! Don't be stupid!
Also the girl next to me is in a lot of my pictures... friggin texting! Can you imagine all your pictures being of you texting! Stupid! Lol.
So I didn't have my phone with me at all during the ceremony because I'm not one to keep things in my bra, and I'm sure I would have lost it had that happened. I also don't love sneakily holding anything. I went to Catholic School so my High School Graduation was also a Mass and I was participating in some aspect of that... I think there were donations or something I was bringing up in a basket. Basically I had to carry a basket to the stage. And I had a program in my hand... totally didn't even realize it until I was up there... and then I was like "OH MY GOD! WHAT DO I DO WITH THIS PROGRAM??? WHY DID I BRING THIS UP HERE! EVERYTHING IS GOING TO BE TERRIBLE NOW!" Lol. The girl that was bringing the basket up with me (or guy? I think it was a girl, I kind of remember who) was good at calming me down and said "Ohhh just stick it in your sleeve" so I did that... and it worked! It didn't really fall out or anything. It stayed put nicely, but I looked kind of like my arm was robotic... so you can see I didn't want to do that with my phone.
The problem with that is that then you don't quite know where your family is in the audience. Everyone was calling their parents and waving to them and showing them where they were and telling them where to sit. I couldn't do that of corse... but somehow I lucked out! My sister's boyfriend happened to choose the seats and he chose right nearby me, and my sister has very beautiful super curly hair and a bright green dress on, so she was easy to spot, so I noticed them and just started waving and eventually my mom saw me and was like "That's my baby!!!" And waved back with both arms!
I wasn't quite as lucky when we left the ceremony however. The guests left before the students, and everyone was everywhere on their phones trying to find their parents... and I was like "ohhh shit I don't have a phone" So I was just kind of looking and panicking and hoping someone would see me. I went to the car... but my sister and my mom didn't think I would find the car in the big parking lot... so no one stayed in the car. Lol. I eventually saw my sister and her boyfriend again because my sister had a bright green dress and her boyfriend had a giant camera... it all comes in handy! I didn't decorate my cap, so it was a little hard to find. Have a designated meeting spot or something if you think you're going to have this problem and you don't want to bring your phone.
Btw if you don't decorate your cap... its okay. I was thinking of putting a quote from a comedian on it or something because that pertains to my life and the work I'm going into... but... I have messy handwriting and I'm just kind of a sloppy person... so everything I make kind of has that "Oh you did this yourself" type of feel... which I didn't want for my graduation. Lol. Plus... I'm not 100 percent on board with the trend. Its cute and creative... but how many of the same quotes are there? Not super original, some of them are just tacky... and they can be cute and creative and a nice keepsake... but I'm not all for it. Like someone had a poop emoji on their cap... really?
Here's something I'm going to say to kind of do... listen to commencement speeches, but don't necessarily. I didn't know who my speaker was... and I had to wake up at 4 in the morning to be there... so I was kind of falling asleep... not gonna lie. It can be boring. Sometimes it can just seem like they're saying buzzwords. "Diploma. Future. Smart. College. Commencement. Name of your School. Future Occupations. Ferguson. Smart. Future. This is what you're doing to make a difference in the world." Those types of things. Not saying anyone at my school did that... but it happens. A lot of times they have politicians doing commencements and there is a good chance you might not agree with whoever is speaking, and you might not be able to get past that. I think thats okay... but there is a lot to be learned from Commencement Speeches in general. They kind of tell you some useful life advice and a lot of times they can be funny and entertaining. If there is a celebrity that you like that spoke at a college, look up their speech! I know Maya Rudolph just did one, Amy Schumer and Mindy Kaling did them last year, Barack and Michelle Obama both have them... pretty much every year I think. Lol. Its something I think you can enjoy and learn from at any age.
Also if you are writing a commencement speech... a laugh or two never hurt anyone. My sister had Tim Russert speak at her graduation and he was fun to listen to and entertaining. He passed away a few years ago, but he was a political reporter... and it wasn't like his speech was overly political or anything. He wasn't like "This is what is wrong with our country because George Bush is president" or anything like that... he just talked about graduation and life advice and things like that. I was too young to understand if he said anything important... and not gonna lie I was reading Princess in Pink by Meg Cabot, so I was more concerned with Mia Thermopolis's troubles... but its important. I don't pay attention if there are NO LAUGHS! Even a failed attempt at a laugh is better than impersonal buzzwords and things like that. So yeah.
Another thing I thought was kind of cool is that I knew the teacher that handed me my diploma... not something that always happens really, but when you have a small school... it does happen. And I really liked this teacher, it was the class I took on The Wire, which I've mentioned before on this blog and I thought it was really interesting. For me the class was an English Class but it was also considered Sociology I believe and it was taught by a Sociology professor (her I think it was sociology... maybe criminal justice... but I'm pretty sure sociology or psychology) and an english professor and it was just an interesting mix and they both had something interesting to bring to the table. If you're going to Rutgers Newark and the class is available, definitely take it! I felt like I got choked up at that, even though I don't even know this professor all that well. I only had one class with her... but it was a good class and I was happy she was the person handing me my diploma. So thats a little bonus I guess.
Also don't get nervous about the small stuff. I was freezing cold before entering the Prudential Center and I was afraid I was going to trip and or throw up and or poop my pants. I made it through the graduation without doing any of those things! I feel like if I can make it through without those things, you can too! I do fall and throw up a lot at embarrassing times... I've never pooped my pants as an adult, but ever since that Friends episode where Chandler tells Monica that Ross ate Tacos and pooped his pants on Space mountain... I'm always afraid of doing that in public! Lol. Or throwing up on a roller coaster... Is this TMI? Probably.
Soooo on that weird note... thats that! I'm done! Now I have to find some form of employment or something... yikes.
Byeeeee! And Congrats!
-Shannon
Comments
Post a Comment