Think about the commencement ceremonies you've attended. What do you remember about them? Do you remember the songs that were played or the speeches that were given? Do you remember sitting in an auditorium or a stadium and loving it? Or, do you remember wishing it was over as fast as humanly possible?
When we think about commencement, we are usually excited about our accomplishments, but we're not too excited about the actual ceremony. Mostly, it's just a long, annoying, and tedious event that takes place at the end of our academic program. Some of us wish we could fast forward or skip the ceremony. Some of us actually do skip the ceremony because what's the point? It's not required and you get the diploma in the mail anyway.
I thought the same thing until recently and now, I want to encourage you to take a different perspective to the commencement ceremony.
Recently, I had the opportunity to volunteer at Grand Canyon University's nontraditional commencement ceremonies. In two days, I helped put on four ceremonies for thousands of online students who came out to accept their diplomas and celebrate with family and friends. I dreaded standing through these long ceremonies, but it was one of the most rewarding experiences that I have ever been able to be apart of in my years here at GCU.
First of all, the number of people there to make the ceremony possible is shocking. You may not realize it but there are so many different teams working in the background to try and make everything go smoothly. Yes, some of them are employed by GCU to make these events run smoothly. What you may not know is that many of them are volunteers. I worked with many students who volunteered their Friday and Saturday and we also worked alongside faculty and staff who took time off their job to do this. I worked with SSCs and people from human resources, technical support, etc. There were so many different people who wanted to be apart of this ceremony.
And I didn't understand why.
Honestly, it baffled me that employees took time off from their paid position to work the ceremony. When I asked an SSC why she chose to do this, she told me to pay attention to their faces. The faces of the students when they graduate is always a mixture of relief and pride because they did something they never thought they could do. She volunteers to specifically watch her students walk across the stage with a smile on their face and be reminded why she does her job every day. She does it for them. There are people at these ceremonies that we do not see and she was one of them.
Second of all, there is so much planning that goes into these events to make sure everything is organized to the tee. They make sure there are enough seats for graduates and their guests. There are people that make sure there are enough programs. There are cleaning crews in between each ceremony. There is a team to make sure everyone is accommodated properly. There's even a team to make sure the volunteers and staff are fed throughout the ten and half hour process each day. Yes, ten and half hours! I'm sure this does not even come close to covering the effort put into commencement weekend.
Finally, at the end of each ceremony, everyone is gathered in the lobby of the arena to cheer the graduates as they walk out. And yes, I watched the faces of each graduate. Some were crying, some were relieved, and some were ecstatic; All were overwhelmed.
As I cheered on these graduates, I was taken back to my freshman year move-in. It was so vivid in my memory. We were frustrated with the traffic we went through to get to campus, but the anger was forgotten when we saw hundreds of faculty members and students cheering our arrival. We were handed tank tops and water bottles while we, the "unadjusted to Arizona" families, waited in our cars in 104-degree weather. The hours we waited in line gave us time to look around and take in the scenery. Back then, there wasn't much to see but it was breathtaking, not only because everything was new and exciting, but because there was an overwhelming amount of love shown on this campus. These students and faculty members were all volunteering to stand long hours in the heat and help the freshman and transfers move into the dorms. I remember being overwhelmed and unable to process it - I was now apart of such a loving community as this.
I imagine this is what it will be like on graduation day. I will sit through the two hours of the ceremony. I will remember the people behind the curtain and the people not often seen. I will remember that it takes a village while I walk out of the arena into the cheering crowd that guides me to my family. I will remember the love poured out on me from the very beginning as it meets me in the end.
This, here, is GCU.
