Last weekend, my husband and I traveled to Chicago so I could attend Kaplan University’s summer commencement. I'm always happy to have an excuse to travel to Chicago. My husband and I were married there, our oldest son was born there, and my teaching career began there. I am sentimental about everything in the city. I also thoroughly enjoy graduation ceremonies. As an eighth grade teacher in the Chicago Public Schools, I held a graduation every year. Graduation was the highlight of the final year of elementary school for my students, complete with pomp and circumstance and caps and gowns. My fondness for graduation ceremonies stems from all the ceremonies I led my over the years. Traveling to Chicago AND attending graduation is just about as good as it gets for me. I love putting on my academic regalia and watching the graduates receive their diplomas. Having staged my share of graduations, I know that leather binder is empty. The actual paper diploma is waiting somewhere in a large brown envelope. For the students walking across the stage of the Arie Crown Theater last weekend, that didn’t matter a bit. The excitement and happiness in the room was undeniable. The sense of accomplishment, of achieving goals and realizing dreams was palpable. I couldn’t have asked for more from graduation in the Windy City. To all the Kaplan graduates, and to graduates everywhere, congratulations on a job well done !