A couple of days ago I received an invitation from Kaplan’s Academic Event Team to attend the summer graduation ceremony in Chicago on August fourth.

I look forward to this event each summer.  I get excited when that invitation lands in my inbox.  It may sound a little hokey, but I love graduations.  I can’t put a finger on exactly what it is that makes my heart skip a beat about a graduation ceremony.  Perhaps it is the sound of Pomp and Circumstance drifting through the air.  My eyes well up with tears every time I hear the song. Perhaps it is the promise that a graduation brings: new opportunity, the closing of one door, the opening of a new one, moving on to bigger and better things. 

Graduations take me back in time.  Sure, I have had a few graduations of my own.  But more importantly, as an educator, I have graduated many students, moving them on from where they started to where they want to go.  At Kaplan, I teach developmental students, just beginning their college careers.  I haven’t had the pleasure of finding one of my former students at a graduation ceremony yet, although I hope to. That would be a thrill beyond measure!  As a teacher in the Chicago Public Schools, many years ago, I taught a self contained eighth grade class.  Yes, you read that correctly.  All subjects, all day long.  Some years well over thirty big kids crammed into a little classroom with leaky windows on the third floor. I’ll spare you the details, but suffice it to say this was before Chicago’s school reform.  I was the teacher, guidance counselor and graduation ceremony queen.

If I’m being honest with you (and with myself) I suspect this is where my love for graduations began.  As the eighth grade teacher in a small neighborhood school in the projects, graduation was one of my many responsibilities.  I spent the first two thirds of the year struggling to get my students to meet the minimum requirements for graduation.  I spent the final third of the year getting them into a high school and preparing the graduation ceremony.  I’m not a music teacher, but there was singing.  I’m not a drama teacher, but there was a play.  I’m not fundraiser, but there was a candy sale so every student could wear a cap and gown and walk down the aisle and onto the stage, to the tune of Pomp and Circumstance. 

Graduations are sentimental.  They allow you to reflect on all the struggles and accomplishments that led up to them.  They are exciting, filled with the promise and potential that a diploma provides.  Any way you look at it, a graduation is a good thing, for students, teachers, family and friends.  After Kaplan’s summer graduation a reception is held, on a terrace outside of the Arie Crown Theater. I thoroughly enjoy stepping back and taking in all that reception has to offer.  As a faculty member, I am happy to see another class of graduates earning their degree and moving into the work force.  I especially enjoy seeing these students, these people, smiling and celebrating their accomplishments with their loved ones. 

August 4 can’t get here soon enough! If you view the graduation ceremony on the live stream, watch for me.  I’ll be the one with tears in my eyes, beaming from ear to ear.