Graduation Ceremony 2007

Many of us wonder why our school has the graduation ceremony right before the Spring Quarter midterms.  They should wait until the middle of June, when the finals and quarter are over.

I had to get to the site of my graduation ceremony early on May 5, 2007, and things didn’t go as planned.  They were really unclear and disorganized, especially with the schedule and instructions.  They didn’t follow what they told us in the notices.  Even worse, many of those running the event couldn’t understand English very well.

It was almost impossible to keep my graduaiton cap from falling off, even with pins.  The hood kept pressing against my neck, making it hard to breath.

Our group photo was done almost half and hour late.  I saw some unpleasant and suspicious people as well, and some got awards that they didn’t deserve.

I felt the ceremony was disorganized, too.  When I went up to get my "diploma," I made a stupid, irresponsible, and embarrassing mistake.  After shaking the President’s hand and posing for a picture, I went down the middle instead of the side, back to my seat.  I didn’t realize it until I had sat back down.  Fortunately, people near me said that no one saw it, and I hope they were telling me the truth.

The graduation ceremony was more organized in the previous 2 years.  I have noticed that quite a few of the more organized staff were fired or driven away only to be replaced by more Korean staff.  They never explained the requirements for the student service, clinic, or special awards.  I think students who are hired to work at our school are more likely to get those awards, which would mean they are almost restricted to Koreans since so far I’ve seen them hire only Korean students.  They also gave flower pins to the Korean graduates for free, but made the others pay.

The ceremony is just another event proving how Korean centered our school has become.  I’m glad this is my last quarter.  However, I will have to come back for the doctorate program, which will take another 2 years.  I hope all this school racism and bias will not have much effect on it.

Despite all that mess, the ceremony wasn’t all bad.  The music was good, and I did see some nice people (those who had graduated in previous quarters) again.