How Graduates Feel on Graduation Day

The graduation ceremony is a big thing for many students, and rightly so. After all, it is the day that marks their completion of years of hard work and perseverance, and their transition to the next stage of their young lives. At the same time, it signifies that the students will soon be leaving the environment and community that hey had grown accustomed to for so many years.

Mixed emotions on graduation day

All this considered, it is definitely normal for students to have mixed feelings about graduation day. They can be nervous and nostalgic, while simultaneously being excited and hopeful. This is the time for them to don their neatly ironed graduation gowns, as well as their graduation caps, tassels and other accessories, and to participate in the pomp and circumstance of the formal ceremonies. The celebration is, of course, shared in by parents, relatives and good friends, all of whom bear witness the students’ triumphant march and give their love, congratulations, and support.

What do students normally feel?

What might be going through the minds of the rows of students dressed in high school gowns and caps? After having gone through the academic and extra-curricular rush of their final year, and the period of scrambling to find cap and gown sales, what could they be feeling?

Upon entering the hall where the graduation rites are to be held, they may first notice the special graduation music that greets them at the entrance, and the festive-yet-formal décor that makes the building that they had grown so accustomed to seem a little unusual—special. This will remind them that they are not celebrating alone, but that these decorations represent the school’s faculty and staff’s support and involvement in the celebrations.

They will then see the mass of fellow graduates who are just as excited and anxious about graduating as they are. This will give the graduates a sense of belonging to a bigger group, a feeling of sharing his or her struggles with so many others who have undergone the same things.

The graduates find their seats, and soon after the formal ceremony begins. The school dean or principal offers an encouraging and lofty speech that is meant to share in the graduates’ elation and to stir them up to look to new heights. For some, this may be the most memorable part of the ceremony, and the words of this person whom they love and respect so much may be engraved in their minds and hearts long after they have left the campus.

Next, the march. Graduates are called to the stage, each name called out loudly and clearly for everyone to recognize. Each one is afforded his or her own solo time on stage, and receives his or her graduation certificate. This is the time for picture-taking, and will probably be the stuff of graduation mementos. As they march on stage and shake hands with the school heads, all eyes are on them, and they may feel a sense of glory that may never be matched until the next graduation ceremony.