March: Graduation Month!

The last two weeks of the month (of March) bring much excitment and euphora for the graduating students as they prepare for the big day, i.e. graduation day!

Weeks before this, it was rather much different. The excitement was more of: "will I really make it to graduation day or not?" This feeling doubles as senior students put finishing touches on their thesis/dissertation. And more so when the adviser, or any member of the panel, place a lot of corrections, as in EXPAND, IMPROVE, ENRICH, ETC.. side notes.

Good for thesis writers nowadays, when corrections can easily be made on the computer without affecting the rest of the pages of the manuscript. I can imagine the typewriters' era! Whenever corrections are made on one page, the rest of the pages of the manuscript are affected. Ergo, you have to adjust everything. Whaaaaaaa!!

Anyway, after all is certain, the euphora subsides as graduation day nears, but of course, not the excitement. It grows in intensity by the day until graduation day dawns and the parents and realtives are all alerted for the surefire graduation fun that punctuates it all.. the celebration, the party.. yeheeyy. Happy graduation dear graduating students.

You are so important, as one commencement speaker emphasizes it: "The generations before you are jaded and worn out. They may no longer be capable of creativity; their energies are spent. They are stuck with old templates – imposing old solutions to new problems. We need to break out of the mold. We need your youth, your imagination, and your energy to do this!"

The speaker was pointing to your role in the real world outside the academe. C'mon, you can do it or you should do it.

Good luck!