The December Grad Finale, which
took place at the University Student
Commons this past Monday and Tuesday,
seemed almost anticlimactic.
For the record, I am not trying to
undermine the Graduation Office’s
efforts. There was a strange ambience
in the Commonwealth Ballroom on
Tuesday, as though everyone looked
tired. Maybe Tuesday at 1 p.m. isn’t
the most exciting time for anything.
Maybe some December graduation
candidates were already “over it,” and
maybe the rest, like me, were secretly
panicking.
There’s plenty to panic about. While
most students are preparing to register
for spring classes in the next few weeks,
the rest of us have to start looking for
jobs and people to take over our leases.
We’re also trying not to fail the classes
we need to be able to walk on Dec. 8.
We haven’t even graduated yet, but
already other things are competing for
our financial attention. For example,
some of us have to consider student
loan payments. Another consideration
is joining the VCU Alumni Association,
which had a table at the Grad Finale.
Some of the special member benefits,
such as low-cost Internet service and
playing privileges at the Thalhimer
Tennis Court, are listed on the group’s
Web site. How could you not want in
on that?
According to VCU’s Graduation Of-
fice, the only difference between fall and
spring graduation is the higher number
of spring candidates. As a result, there is
more fanfare in the spring – and traffic,
too. Perhaps this is the reason fall graduates
have to walk two weeks before VCU
closes down for the winter break.
The obligatory awkward family
graduation photos look different in the
winter, too. Families huddle around
their graduate for as long as it takes to
snap a picture, and then they rush off.
You might not be able to savor your
moment of glory because of the cold.
Whether the pictures are taken indoors
or outdoors, everyone’s layers of winter
apparel make them look bulkier.
Some of my fellow December graduates
already feel as though they’re on
an extended Christmas vacation. Talk
about senioritis! However, my only
worry is that the holidays might steal
my thunder. I hope I’m not the only
one who feels that way.
As a student who transferred to VCU
two years ago, I feel as if I just started
to settle down. In some weird way, the
Grad Finale symbolized some of the “big
decisions” we make in our post-graduate
lives. Oddly enough, my biggest decision
on Tuesday was how I want my middle
name, Ann, spelled on my graduation
invitations. Ever since I was born, my
name has been creatively butchered in
dozens of ways. As I filled out the form,
I figured I might as well spell my middle
name the way I’ve always wanted to.
(Anne with an “e” – sorry, Mom.)
I’m afraid of turning into the characters
from one of my favorite movies,
“Kicking and Screaming” (not the 2005
kids’ soccer atrocity starring Will Ferrell),
which follows the lives of four college
graduates as they continue to cling to
their undergraduate ways. The movie
is a true product of the ’90s, complete
with witty banter, lots of flannel and
Eric Stoltz. Stoltz has a supporting role
as Chet, a philosophizing bartender who
never actually graduated from college. At
one point, he asks rhetorically, “How do
you make God laugh? Make a plan.”
The only plans I’m making are plans to
catch up on my reading and my Netflix
queue, to travel and to work out more.
And for as long as I can pull it off, I also
plan to sleep in until 10 a.m.