Every year around late May, early June, you start to see the caps and gowns, and farewell addresses to the class of the year. Whether the past school year had been cruel or easygoing, it comes to a close. With that closing comes graduation. Each individual preparing for this momentous occasion is hit with nostalgia, excitement, and anxiety all at the same time. They sit in the graduation ceremony surrounded by people who you might have been told on the first day weren't going to make it, and maybe some didn't, but the time to weep is gone, and the time to celebrate is here.

I partook in going to a graduation this year that moved me like no other before. I felt obligated to share the experience. We met complications along the road heading towards the graduation. My family and I traveled from New York to Maryland just to see my sister receive her Bachelor's degree from HBCU Bowie State University. The complications we faced were nothing and nothing would stop us. Traffic? Ha! Normally, traffic would be a real pain: that control taken from me, unable to physically move every car out of the way of the rented one my Uncle was driving. This is that one time that I sensed how meaningless it is to be upset at something we have no control over. We had made it so far to get to one location, for one event, and it was going to happen, regardless of whatever circumstances that came across our path.

But there’s always a way, and the traffic lead us right into our destination. We found a way to get into the Xfinity center and park (when almost all parking lots were filled to the brim), just like how my sister found a way to get her degree. No one has the time of their life without overcoming some kind of pain that, in fact, makes the joy so much more worthwhile. You don’t know what’s really good without facing the bad, ugly, deconstruction in its face and telling those trials they won’t take the best of you and destroy you. Getting inside the packed center with families of over 1,000 graduates was magical. On a day when the weather was supposed to stay cloudy and bland, the sun shined through the clouds to smile with every proud parent, ecstatic child, rooting relative, and supportive friend. My mom had gotten a seat earlier because she refused to sit in the nosebleeds, so we had a clear view of the ceremony. I got to sit down and hear other loved ones of this university's soon-to-be graduates roar in excitement with every opportunity they got. Anytime someone on the mic would say “Class of 2016!”, or speak on how much it personally means to them to have made it this far, the students would give a powerful praise. The President of the school, professors, elected officials, and John Lewis (former member of SNIC) spoke out to the students. Besides Lewis, the best statement came from a student. This was our Super Bowl and everyone was a winner (Class President speaking below).

An everlasting joy that a moment couldn’t contain, but somehow it did, these HBCU graduates of Bowie University at that very moment were proud, inspired, and most importantly, ready. Ready for the world ahead of them and ready for results in their work that they’ll continue to strive for. It reminded me of my first college (Claflin University). You make decisions when you’re young that will affect you later on in life, so as much as I’d love to dedicate my writings to many of the people that have come before and those who’ve made those accomplishments, this is really the pre-graduation piece for those who haven’t achieved that goal, if it is what they want. Any one of the graduates that have just walked across their respective school's ceremonial stage and received their diploma could have simply chosen not to do it. Every single graduate made the decision to get their degree, whether it is an Associate's, Bachelor's, Master's, or Doctorate. It was a landmark that proves determination at it's finest.

For the pre-graduates:

Path

Follow forth footsteps of a vision

before consequences settle, rumble.

Knock out numbers like they'll lock you up if you don't get them first.

Do you drive the hearse or ride?

Ball is life with a boxing match ring as your court.

But you gotta think outside the box to win this sport.

Your mind is your greatest prize.

Though papers have your name,

jobs take your time,

this is a sign, a mirror with cap and gown,

because you already won when you decided to fight.

Put on your suit

when the time is right.

A wise man once told me, "you never stop being a student". He was in his 80s and understood that he wouldn’t know it all, but he would continue to learn until the day he dies. Keep learning, we're all students of life.