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Tips for Graduation Day

Next week I will earn my second Master鈥檚 Degree 鈥� a sure reason to celebrate! However, it will be the first graduate school celebration I take part in. By the time I earned my first Master鈥檚 Degree, I had already moved more than 2,500 miles away, and so did the rest of my family, and attending my graduation ceremony just did not seem like a top priority at the time.

I missed it, though. There is something to be said for marking your accomplishments by having family, friends, classmates, and your professors cheering for you. It can be a crazy time of year, but don鈥檛 let it slip by without marking it in some way. The following tips can help you to make the occasion all that it could and should be.

• Send out your graduation announcements! More than an invitation to your ceremony, it is an announcement of your hard-won accomplishments. It let鈥檚 your friends and family know that you have accomplished a long-term goal that you set out to accomplish. Be proud!

• Arrange to mark the occasion by celebrating with friends and family either prior to or after the ceremony. Don鈥檛 wait until graduation day to plan this! The occasion is important enough to plan ahead for, and after you take the walk across the stage for your degree, you will want to sit back, relax, and unwind with those you love.

• Arrange for celebrations, but if you decide to party the night before, don鈥檛 indulge too heavily the night before. Much like a pre-wedding day celebration, you don鈥檛 want the celebration to get in the way of the actual ceremony.

• Plan for someone in your family to take pictures and/or video of you and the ceremony. Make sure that you give this task to someone you trust. There are no 鈥渄o overs!鈥�

• Arrange to sit near your classmates and friends. Typically, graduates are grouped by major, but make sure that you find your friends within your major so that you can share the experience with the same people you have toiled alongside for the past few years.

• Make sure you carry your cell phone, and it is on. You don鈥檛 want to waste a half hour of celebration time after the ceremony trying to find your friends and family in a stuffy, packed auditorium.

• Thank you parents, if they helped you financially or emotionally, and make sure you thank whomever is appropriate. Most times in life when one attains a great accomplishment, she did not do it alone! Think of who helped you get there!

• Last but not least, the most important piece of advice that someone offered to me on my wedding day: the day of the ceremony will be crazy and a whirlwind of activity. Be sure to take time to slow down and record a mental picture of what is happening so that it is burned into your brain for you to recall in future years.

Congratulations on your accomplishment!

Posted on 1 May