{"id":151,"date":"2017-07-18T19:25:58","date_gmt":"2017-07-18T19:25:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.tees.ac.uk\/tjuthompson\/?p=151"},"modified":"2017-07-18T19:33:25","modified_gmt":"2017-07-18T19:33:25","slug":"i-can-and-i-will-graduation-2017","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.tees.ac.uk\/tjuthompson\/2017\/07\/18\/i-can-and-i-will-graduation-2017\/","title":{"rendered":"“I can and I will” – Graduation 2017!"},"content":{"rendered":"

The biggest event this week is not the start of Season 7 of Game of Thrones<\/a>, it\u2019s not the discussion of the new Avengers Infinity War teaser<\/a>, it\u2019s not even the announcement of a female Doctor Who<\/a> (which, by the way, has generated a staggering amount of whining<\/a>). No, the biggest, most hotly anticipated event this week is graduation!<\/p>\n

As I\u2019ve said before, graduation is my favourite part of the academic cycle. It\u2019s a moment of celebration and pride and a chance to reflect upon success and share this with friends and families. There\u2019s a lot of discussion about why students come to university<\/a>, and the importance of being employment-ready and the like, but when it boils down to it, most students want this day – to be able to walk across the stage, shake hands with the VC, and get that hard-earned certificate. I\u2019m lucky enough to be able to sit up on the stage and from there I can see them come down the aisle and wait by the side of the stage. There in their little faces you can see excitement, nervousness, happiness, mild terror, and the best one, pride.<\/p>\n

We also ask one student from each ceremony to give the valedictory address. In our first event of the week the student gave a wonderful, personal account of his time at university. He was clearly nervous, but that\u2019s totally understandable in these events and of course everybody wants the speaker to do well. Fighting through those nerves, his key point was that he had repeatedly been told that he was not intelligent enough for university and that he\u2019d fail if he went. It was such a heart-felt speech and from my ever-so-slightly-lofty vantage I could see people getting teary. It was all a bit:<\/p>\n