"Only a master of evil, Darth"
On Sunday, June 18th, 2006, I officially graduated from Oregon State University with a Master of Art in Interdisciplinary Studies. I didn’t walk in my undergraduate graduation ceremony, and I wish that I had, but I did walk this time. This was a big accomplishment for me. Unfortunately, I had developed some kind of stomach bug the day before, but it didn’t keep me away from graduation.
My mom, grandma, and two of my aunts arrived at our house before we went to campus, while my dad and his girlfriend, and my mother- and sister-in-law arrived at the stadium on their own.
I arrived at campus early, with my family, so I walked them to the stadium before I went to check in. I realized once again, as I was walking across campus, how much I like OSU’s grounds. After we decided where to meet after the ceremony, I went back to the car for my cap, gown and hood, and checked in. They gave me a number (88) so I would know where to be in line and some instructions on what to do during the ceremony. I found my place in line and waited.
Shortly before we began walking toward the stadium, the wardens showed us the correct way to hood ourselves so we could do it during the ceremony as easily as possible. It was good that they did, since the instructions that came with the hood were for a completely different style and I had been putting it on upside down.
Around 1:30 or so, we could hear the bagpipers start up in the library quad, so we knew it was time to start. We lined up along the sidewalk, allowing room for the platform party and doctoral candidates to pass. It was like a parade! The military personnel with the flags went by first, followed by the pipers and the platform party. Next came the doctoral candidates. Once they passed, we joined in and marched through the M.U. quad, where all of the undergrads were lined up. As I walked through, I heard someone calling my name and turned around to see Brad, from the writing center, so I waved at him. I kind of feel bad that I didn’t realize who it was before I was already past; I would have liked to congratulate him. Soon after I heard my name again, and saw Eric, another writing assistant. This time I did congratulate him.
So, we marched on, down 26th to Reser Stadium. When we entered the stadium, we could hear the crowd cheering. It was really exciting. I should have tried to find my family in the crowd, but I didn’t until after I got my degree and the undergrad were getting theirs.
This was the first year in I don’t know how long that the ceremonies for grads and undergrads were combined, so President Ray made a point of asking us grads to stay through the entire ceremony.
The ceremony was very nice. The speakers mostly had good speeches, and none of them were overly long. When all of the graduates who were joining the military were sworn in as officers, I was surprisingly moved. It was pretty dang cool to see them all stand up and take their robes off, with their uniforms underneath, and take that oath. They got a pretty big cheer, too.
The new Doctors got their degrees first, and there was some confusion about when their mentors were supposed to actually place the hoods on the new Doctors’ shoulders, but it worked out ok. They actually read the names of each Doctor as they crossed the stage.
We Masters didn’t get our names read, and we had to hood ourselves, but it was ok. It felt really good to walk across the stage and have my diploma handed to me. That’s right, OSU actually hands out the diplomas during the ceremony, not an empty folder (which is part of why it was so important to check in at the beginning). Unfortunately, the Master’s candidates were coming in two lines, and someone had mixed up the stacks, so everyone got someone else’s diploma. It was ok, though, since it was easily fixed once we all got back to our seats. We were in order, after all, so it was easy to find who had our degrees. It sure was funny, though.
After the Masters got our degrees came the Pharmacy school grads, and then the undergrads. The whole ceremony of the graduation was really interesting to me. Before each group was presented their degrees, the dean of the particular college or school (grad school, school of liberal arts, etc.) would stand and provide some statistics about the graduating class from that particular area. It was very interesting to hear all of that. Most interesting was the fact that there were six hundred and sixty-six graduating Masters this year. Spooky, isn’t it? Jessee’s grandpa keeps telling me I’m a Master of Evil (as in medieval). I thought it was pretty funny.
Even though President Ray asked us all to stay through the entire ceremony, before the undergrads were even a quarter of the way through the majority of the Masters grads were gone. I decided that I didn’t need to wait for all of the undergrads to finish, either, since all that was really left was the shifting of the tassels (which I didn’t feel I needed since I was already hooded), the tossing of the hats (which I never planned to participate in) and an orderly exit. I wasn’t sure that I would be able to find my family to tell them that I was ready, though. But, I turned around and looked up and found my mom right away. So, I waved to say let’s get out of here, and that was that. I felt kind of bad leaving, but it turns out that they were trying to call me (but my phone was turned off; I was really not too keen on all of the graduating students talking on their cell phones during the ceremony) to get me to go. They also said later that if I had looked at them they might have been able to get a good picture, which was also why they were calling. Oh well… I might just have to buy the DVD (even though I’ll likely never watch it)!
So, we all went back to our place for dinner (tacos, with homemade ice cream for desert), and had a pretty nice evening. After most everyone left, Jessee and her mom had me get back into the cap and gown for some more pictures, which I did. I hope they turn out, since I wasn’t feeling particularly well and wasn’t too keen on having my picture taken. But they took some. They even took some of me holding my Vader FX lightsaber, in one of which I was even standing next to a Vader cardboard cutout. That one should be cool. Too bad they didn’t use my new digital camera so we could see them right away! (Of course, that would also have been nice to have had during the ceremony…)
All in all, despite not feeling at the top of my game and putting up with Dad’s girlfriend, who kept complaining that the ceremony was long and boring (actually, it was pretty short compared to some, and she just has no appreciation for knowledge or tradition), it was a pretty good day. Almost makes me want to go for a PhD, just to be in another ceremony!