Friday night, I sat in a sweaty gymnasium and listened to the university president whisper his remarks about the beginning of our future and something else that I couldn't hear because I was too busy talking with my friends. I was almost late getting to the fieldhouse and it took me forever to wind my way through the giggling undergrads to get to the window for grad students. I picked up my name card and my honor cords, a friend of a friend hooded me, and an old teacher of mine pinned my hood to keep it from strangling me. (Funny story: I remembered her name because at the time I knew her, she was married to the university president. He was abruptly fired a few months before my undergrad graduation in 95 because of some shady dealings with international students. I called her by the name I knew her by then, and she corrected me, telling me that was her former name. Oops.)
Sherry and I made our way through the banner bearers and into the handball court where the grad students had congregated. We found our other classmates and discovered that of the 30 of us who started the program, only 15 or so were slated to graduate. Of those 15, only eight of us walked on Friday. Of those eight, only three of us had honor cords. I got compliments on my hair because none of them had seen me since I got it cut and then it was time to walk in.
We kept sending a poor, drunken MBA candidate to the back of the line because he had already missed his cohort. We walked in and made our way to the second row and stood for a long, long time. It took me a long time to find my family, way up in the bleachers. I found them, waved, and then we listened to a horrible version of the National Anthem. Then it was our turn to line up and hear our names read and shake hands and face the flash bulbs. Since there were seven and a half rows of graduates after us, we had a lot of time to sit and talk about life, the heat, the horrible outfits, and shoes.
And then it was over. No fanfare, no turning of the tassels, no tossing of the hats. We didn't even file out in an orderly fashion. We crowded around a classmate's wife who took pictures of us with each other and with the president and one of our instructors. We exchanged promises to keep in touch; promises I don't fully intend to keep. I found my family and there were more pictures and then there was the parking lot to deal with and then presents and dinner and then we were off on our way to Branson for some rest.
I still have a paper to finish before my transcript is official and my diploma is released. But other than that, I am a graduate. A Master of Science in Educational Leadership.
And totally the Boss of You.
Sherry and I made our way through the banner bearers and into the handball court where the grad students had congregated. We found our other classmates and discovered that of the 30 of us who started the program, only 15 or so were slated to graduate. Of those 15, only eight of us walked on Friday. Of those eight, only three of us had honor cords. I got compliments on my hair because none of them had seen me since I got it cut and then it was time to walk in.
We kept sending a poor, drunken MBA candidate to the back of the line because he had already missed his cohort. We walked in and made our way to the second row and stood for a long, long time. It took me a long time to find my family, way up in the bleachers. I found them, waved, and then we listened to a horrible version of the National Anthem. Then it was our turn to line up and hear our names read and shake hands and face the flash bulbs. Since there were seven and a half rows of graduates after us, we had a lot of time to sit and talk about life, the heat, the horrible outfits, and shoes.
And then it was over. No fanfare, no turning of the tassels, no tossing of the hats. We didn't even file out in an orderly fashion. We crowded around a classmate's wife who took pictures of us with each other and with the president and one of our instructors. We exchanged promises to keep in touch; promises I don't fully intend to keep. I found my family and there were more pictures and then there was the parking lot to deal with and then presents and dinner and then we were off on our way to Branson for some rest.
I still have a paper to finish before my transcript is official and my diploma is released. But other than that, I am a graduate. A Master of Science in Educational Leadership.
And totally the Boss of You.
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