6:45 a.m. — I probably woke up earlier than most of the UVA graduates today in preparation for the Class of 2015's Final Exercises, as Mr. Jefferson liked to call it, in hopes of getting a good seat on the Lawn. This past weekend's Final Exercises were the first college graduations I have ever attended. With my older sister graduating this year, I heard all about the earlier controversies of whether or not the ceremony should continue to be held on the Lawn with limited seating, or if it should be moved to Scott Stadium. Needless to say, tradition-bound Wahoos voted to continue to be able to walk the Lawn and hold the ceremony at this historic site.
As for my naive self, my seats were nowhere near as good as the fifth row seats I had at the Valedictory Exercises featuring Ed Helms the day before. Saturday, I had a wonderful view of a giant tree near Pavilion X. Similar to many other guests at the lawn ceremony, it consisted of me staring at the back of a lady's sunhat (or at the tree) and listening to President Teresa Sullivan's recognizable voice.
Due to the construction of the Rotunda, graduation was split into two days: the College of Arts and Sciences on Saturday, and all of the other schools, including Engineering, Nursing, Batten, McIntire, Architecture, and more on Sunday. Despite the ceremony being split up, I felt as though I were standing there for hours just during the procession of the over 2,000 graduates. The most unfortunate thing I would say about having this split up is that the second set of graduates missed out on Governor Terry McAuliffe's unapologetic, hilarious, and boldly inspirational speech. Yes, it was crazy, and bold, but I loved it, and it exceeded my expectations of the typical politician-speaking-at-important-event speech, which usually turn into more of a campaign speech than anything else. Governor Terry McAuliffe's, however, was pretty great.
“There is no such thing as a bad day. Everyday you wake up, there is potential for something positive." - Governor Terry McAuliffe
As for my newly graduated friends, congratulations to you all. Again, sitting behind a tree, it was difficult to make out faces beneath the hoard of Spongebob, shark, and flower balloons, but just knowing that I was in the presence of these graduates that have been such an inspiration to me, was more than good enough. Some of the graduates I have known since day one, and others I met only a few weeks ago, but every single one of you, even the ones I have never met before, are the reason that I continue to strive to do my best at this university. I remember quite distinctly one of my very close friends, a new graduate, telling me last week, “Sometimes, life is going to bring you down, but you need to radiate love and happiness above all. You are my legacy." You, Class of 2015, are who we look up to, and what we hope to be one day.
With the conferring of the degrees, and the singing of The Good Old Song, (and the revealing of the Z Society members - Hoo knew?!), I want to congratulate all the graduates of THE University of Virginia. You did it! And as for me, I cannot even begin to fathom what it will be like to walk down the Lawn knowing that you attended the best university in the nation, knowing that the friendships you've made over the past four years will last a lifetime, knowing that you are about to start a new chapter in your life, knowing that you wore the honors of honor, knowing that you graduated from Virginia.
While on one hand, I want to say that I cannot wait for that moment, at the same time, I know I want to cherish every single second I have here at the University of Virginia. All in all, I think we can agree that it will be a bittersweet moment to finally be able to say “I have worn the honors of honor. I graduated from Virginia."
