Why can't graduation ceremonies be a little bit interesting, a little bit shorter, and a little bit more creative than the traditional program roll that it has been since time immemorial. Let's take a look at a traditional program sequence in a graduation exercise and see what can be done about it. It usually goes in this order: the processional, the baccalaureate mass, the graduation ceremony proper, and finally the recessional. Usually, the mass celebrant talks as lengthily as the commencement speaker. And good, if they talk about important specific anecdotes that are relevant to the graduating class. In most cases, speakers in both baccalaureate and graduation events talk a lot about so much cliches, as in "spread your wings and learn to fly" and "be true to yourselves" kind of things.. whooaaaahh!!.. they add up to the boresome time-consuming affair.
I remember one tip in writing or making a good speech for graduation ceremonies. And it says "the best graduation speech is one that is interestingly exclusive for a given batch at a given time in a particular place," and therefore, it cannot be recycled. How'd ya find it? I think there's a lot of sense in it.
In big universities, with big number of graduating students, the baccalaureatte mass is held separately just like the parents' night and the graduation ball. Good for them, but still, it is a lot of activities which can all be shortened and combined in one or two settings only, not to mention the expenses that go with each and every activity!
For example, in a situation where some schools find the baccalaureate mass and the commencement exercise inseparable.. maybe it would be less boring to have one speaker only. In another situation where the parents' night is held separately from the graduation ball.. maybe both programs can be shortened and combined. After all, it's not bad to make the parents feel that they are part of the graduation ball..
Well, other students would argue that they don't enjoy to the max with the parents around. Isn't that too self-centered, at the least? Or, simply being indifferent to the old folks? Parents (I must admit as a parent), enjoy and love the company of their children. But I must admit too, that when I was a student, the presence of my parents in our party is a NO, NO and absolutely non-negotiable. Now that I am into their shoes, I just feel that was utterly unfair.
Can we do something about this? Let's think about it! The bottomline is that we can make graduation ceremonies less boring by introducing creative innovations where both the graduating students and the parents enjoy!
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