It's Official...

On December 13, 2008, I walked in the Fall 2008 commencement ceremony at Utah State University in Logan, Utah.  Of course, the commencement exercises do not  make the graduation official - you don't even have to participate in order to graduate.  The ceremony is exactly that - a ceremony.  It is a moment of recognition.  It is 1.5 hours of sitting in a rather ridiculous cap and gown in order to have a 10-second walk up on to a podium to hear your name called aloud and to receive a rather official-looking diploma cover which does not, in fact, contain a diploma.  Where a diploma should be is instead a sheet of paper reminding each and every "graduate" that they haven't officially graduated until they receive an actual diploma in the mail in about 4-6 weeks.

Now that I think about it, the whole graduation ceremony is a rather silly formality.  It's more for the people who want to recognize the graduate's achievements than it is for the graduate's wishing to be recognized for those self-same achievements.  If most of the graduates are anything like me (which I believe they are), they are probably just happy to finally be done with it all.  What makes my attendance even more ridiculous is the fact that I had to drive through the winter's first blizzard in order to arrive just in time to throw a cap and gown on and jump into the sea of graduates on the floor of the arena.

So, regarding the title of this post - my grades are all in now, and not only did I pass all of my classes, but I passed them with flying colors.  So, even though I still have not received my diploma in the mail, I know that I will be receiving one.  That's always a relief!  Now I can start focusing my efforts on the next academic task at hand - getting myself into the University of Utah.  I certainly wouldn't want to give myself a break...