Graduation is the best closure a student can have with EC for whatever the reasons that brought them to school in the first place.

For people who came back to school to get second degrees and to better their skills and themselves, walking down Murdock Stadium signifies every accomplishment earned.

For others, it could be giving school and education another chance after having a horrible high school experience, and never raising yourself to your full potential.

Getting to the point of graduation is more than just taking all the courses listed for degree or transfer requirements. It takes time, effort and a passion to finish school and make something of yourself.

Not everybody is a school kind of person.’

It really takes a certain type of person to go to school. It takes a person who is determined and has perseverance to study and be here.

Graduating from a community college, in a sense, is different from graduating from a 4-year school because of the wide variety of students we have at EC and the different paths they take to reach graduation.

EC has a mix of part-time students, full-time students, nighttime students, etc.

Some students have been juggling school, work and sometimes families, while others have been struggling to just get through all the prerequisites for their desired career.

For others, graduation is the closing of a chapter of their life and the opening to a new one, such as transferring to a university.

On Friday, June 12, students will be given three types of recognition. An A.A. in science, A.A. in arts or a certification of completion.

This year, 1,500 to 1,600 students will be honored for meeting the requirements of graduation, but only about 600 will actually take the steps to walk.

Every year, fewer and fewer students decide to walk the path outlined for graduation.

Graduation is not just a corny rite of passage; it’s the closing ritual a person should be getting for investing so much time and money into going to school.

It symbolizes the transition of a child finally accomplishing a difficult task that lifts them into adulthood. It is an accomplishment that will forever be remembered and never be erased.

No one can ever take an education away once it is earned.

It is that time where you can finally release and release all the moments when you had to put yourself on study-lockdown, skip partying or wake up early after working a night shift.

After everything students have been through, graduation should be the finale to the community college chapter of their lives.

The diploma each graduate is receiving is more than just a piece of paper. It’s the closing statement they’re making to EC and the epilogue to a new story.

A majority of students choose to receive their diplomas in the mail without achieving the recognition of all their time spent at EC, therefore not giving themselves the pat on the back they deserve.

Students are encouraged to walk for graduation, so that everybody at EC may recognize them and their achievements.

Graduation isn’t a scandal to raise more money for the school through gown, cap and tassel profits, but an encouragement to gain the recognition, honor and closure that every graduate needs from EC.

The most hesitant people to walk are transfer students because they want to save the walk for graduation for a university graduation, but people walk for undergraduate and graduate school, too.

So, head down to the bookstore, try on a gown and take a seat next to your fellow classmate and enjoy the fruits of your labor together.

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