College comes to conclusion

Photo by: Henoc Kivuye

 

As the semester ends so does the college life for some students.

Some graduates will leave Oklahoma Christian University to go out and find jobs and lives in the real world. Executive Director of Events Kerri Cunningham said that this graduation holds something special – the speakers.

“This year they decided to do faculty favorites, so Jim Baird is speaking at the undergraduate and Byron Newberry is speaking at the graduate one,” Cunningham said.

Neil Arter, vice president and dean of student life, expressed his interest in having such well-known professors speak during the graduation ceremonies this year.

“I think it is cool that Dr. Baird is going to [speak at graduation],” Arter said. “Dr. Baird connects so well with the people who get to know him. He is kind of a legend at OC, so it’s good that he’s doing that. He will understand the crowd; he will understand the points to make, so that will be great. I’m glad, because he’s definitely one of those professors that deserves that type of accolade.”

Graduating senior Margo Moore said she looks forward to graduation, if only to hear Baird speak.

“Honestly, Jim Baird is extremely intelligent and fascinatingly funny,” Moore said. “I think it’ll make [graduation] worth going to, because I don’t actually want to.”

Olivia Winn, another senior graduating in December, said that Baird is a good choice for speaker.

“I think [Jim Baird] is a really good speaker,” Winn said. “He really can bring up some topics to talk about and make us feel like we had a really great four years here.”

Arter explained what a special time graduation is for students and faculty alike.

“Graduation is just a great time for families to come in and celebrate with their students that they’ve helped through this entire process,” Arter said. “It’s not been easy for some and not likely to happen for others, but they’ve been able to come through it.”

However, even though graduation is supposed to be a happy and joyous time, Arter said it is also a strange time of transition for the faculty who experience a mixture of happiness and sadness that some of their students will no longer be on the Oklahoma Christian campus.

“It’s exciting,” Arter said. “It’s also really strange for us in the university. Every year you lose another group of people. There’s a part of me that wants to say, ‘Let’s just hang out together the rest of our lives,’ but I know they have to go get things done. They have to get things accomplished. God has a plan for them. There are so many good memories with those seniors, and it doesn’t matter what semester you’re talking about. It’s true for all of them.”

Arter also said that this graduation is one to remember since this will be the last time Mickey Banister will preside over commencement.

“This is Dr. Banister’s last time to preside over graduation,” Arter said. “He’s retiring in December. He’s the one who goes to the podium first and introduces people as they come and makes sure that everyone gets across the stage OK.”

Since the December graduation is in between semesters, students who graduate are usually seen as graduating late, but Moore said that she is glad she is graduating in December.

”[Graduating in December] gave me an extra semester to figure out what to do,” Moore said. “Now I don’t have time to get bored between school and my wedding, so I’ll just go straight through and get done with a lot of things. Get all of the stress out of the way at the same time.”

While graduation is exciting for some, it is also daunting. Winn said she does not feel as if she is ready.

“I feel I’m never prepared to graduate because it seems so hard to go out into the real world,” Winn said. “It makes me nervous, and trying to find a job is interesting. I feel like college life is very nurturing.”

Many students are graduating at the end of the semester.

“This December, there are about 87 undergraduates graduating and about 68 graduates graduating,” Cunningham said.

Cunningham gave insight on how the graduation process will begin.

“Friday, there will be a Toast and Tassels for the graduates and their families over in the cafeteria area, and then they will come over [to Hardeman] for the 10 o’clock ceremony,” Cunningham said. “[The ceremony] will only take about an hour and a half.”

Toast and Tassels will begin at 8 a.m. All the graduates this semester had the opportunity to participate in senior activities with the spring graduates last April, for all those set to walk Dec. 13 promises to be a day worthy of their success.