To be a proud graduate, or not to be

Intro: While most graduating students experience a sense of “senioritis” during the last few weeks of the spring semester, Sheryl Saturnino remains humble. She continues to work through the rest of her classes and is keeping the thought of walking across the stage in the back of her mind. She did not feel the hype of the Grad Fair that took place in mid-February at the UAA bookstore. She also was not in a rush to order her graduation announcements and neglected to do so until recently. UAA’s Lizzy Abellera reports:

Saturnino, a senior majoring in Psychology, feels indifferent about participating in this year’s Commencement ceremony. Although she is qualified and encouraged to walk for graduation, Saturnino does not feel like a true graduate. This is because she does not technically finish her degree until the summer.

Melanie Donhauser, one of the Degree Certification Specialists at UAA’s Enrollment services, explains UAA graduation policy.

[CutID: Donhauser UAA policy.wav]
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Out-cue:] [“Summer graduates can participate in the [preceding] spring ceremony even if it’s before a student is actually done with his or her degree. [However,] a student must be within six credits of completion for their degree.”]

While this may be a good option for students, Saturnino just doesn’t feel proud to call herself a graduate. She has to finish two courses over the summer semester to finally obtain her degree in August.

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Out-cue:] [“It’s just a weird feeling knowing I’m not really done and the Commencement ceremony is celebrating students that have actually finished everything.”]

Camille Oliver, the special events manager and Commencement coordinator from University Advancement, says students who graduate over the summer will not have their name printed in this year’s commencement program. It will only contain the names of students from summer and fall 2010 semesters and spring 2011.

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Title: Oliver program
Out-cue:] [“Students that technically finish their degree over this next summer will have their name printed on next year’s program.“]

Oliver assures that this will not affect a student’s participation in the actual ceremony in any way. Unfortunately, this is not a reassuring feeling for Saturnino. This makes her feel more at-edge about walking this spring.

Saturnino felt she had to cram everything in for the spring semester. UAA has only one Commencement ceremony in the year, which falls at the end of each spring semester. Other major universities have bi-annual celebrations, one for fall and one for spring. If Saturnino were to wait to walk until she finished her degree completely, she would have to wait until the spring Commencement ceremony of 2012. That’s about 9 months after she is finally done. Saturnino feels she just would not want to participate at all if she had to wait that long.

[CutID: Saturnino done.wav]
Time: 1s
Title: Saturnino done
Out-cue:] [“I would just want to be done with it.”]

Asia Beder is a recent fall graduate from Alaska Pacific University, which neighbors the UAA campus. She explains how her school had a separate Commencement ceremony last December to celebrate students that completed their degree that semester.

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Out-cue:] [“It’s nice having a celebration at the end of the semester you finish. The celebration was small and intimate but it gave a chance for each student to feel recognized.”]

Because of APU’s smaller ceremony in the fall, each student was able to deliver a 2-minute speech. Beder says this was a nice gesture to recognize the school’s graduates.

UAA’s Commencement Ceremony will take place on Sunday, May 1st at the Sullivan Arena at 3 pm. Students’ family and friends are encouraged to attend and support their UAA graduate.