Commencement!

I love commencement. It's the day of graduating from stage of life to another, commencing a new life or a new stage of life. I've commenced a few times myself—from Nashua High School, from the University of Utah (twice, in fact), and from Penn State. But I've been to many more commencement exercises than just those.

Since becoming a faculty member at the University of South Carolina, I've found commencement to be one of my favorite events, and not just because I get to put on my cool robes. I attend the doctoral hooding ceremony at least once a year and usually more (the University holds them at the end of spring, summer, and fall semesters) and always attend the hooding ceremony for our master's students.

It takes on more meaning when one of my own doctoral students graduates, like Thashundray Robertson did today. Shun defended her dissertation earlier this summer titled, "Access to to Success: Truman, Obama, and the Evolution of Presidential Agendas for Community Colleges." It's wonderful to meet the student's family and friends who have been in the wings cheering them on and hear the words for the first time of, "Congratulations, Dr. Robertson!" And it's wonderful, of course, to hear your advisee say "Thank you" for your help in guiding their research.

However, it's really me that should thank the student. As my friend Marybeth Gasman pointed out in a recent post, the faculty mentor gets as much out of the relationship as the mentee. I know this is true for me. I learn a great deal—let's be blunt here, I learn a helluva lot—from my students.

And I think that's why I love going to commencement. It's a reminder of what being a part of the academy is all about: exploration, discovery, collaboration, celebration. It reminds me of all the support I got to get where I am. And it reminds me that we all need new commencements in our life; times to move on from one era of our life to another, to improve and even reinvent ourselves. It energizes me and gets me reset for the next semester to explore, discover, collaborate, and celebrate again...