In my last post I said I was going to look at the thing the President has to do which aren’t usually mentioned in their manifestos. In this post I’ll talk a bit about the Postgraduate Awards ceremony (“graduation”), which took place on Wednesday last week.
As you may have seen previously, we’d filled the Activity Spaces with junk on Friday and had to get it all cleared on Tuesday morning for the graduation photographers to move in. With the help of some colleagues we shifted most of the dBs furniture to the far end (we’ve got the old dBs table and chairs in there at the moment), but DramSoc had offered to move the junk around – we were spared excessive lifting! Thankfully this proceeded without too much fuss and the photographers were able to move in when they arrived.
Graduation/commemoration days are always a bit crazy in the Union, as we have a building full of people running around in gowns. The President reads a proclamation at the start of the ceremony and announces each group of graduands as they come up. It’s great to see so many happy students walking across the stage in the Royal Albert Hall, although after 2 hours the seats feel fairly uncomfortable – you can’t fidget that much when you’re sitting in front of thousands of people. There are two ceremonies during the day, so there’s a definite case of numb-bum syndrome by the end of it!
Ashley Brown at Commemoration Day 2009
There’s a special blue gown and a mortar board (although that’s getting a bit scraggy now) for the President, who is listed throughout the ceremony as the “Student Orator”. The proclamation has a fairly odd syntax, which means concentration is required to avoid getting tongue-tied. Speaking to such a large hall was a bit intimidating the first time, but the most difficult problem is remembering to speak much more slowly, as your words echo around the room.
The post-ceremony receptions provide a great opportunity to chat to people, as the Rector found out on Wednesday when he missed the chance to lock his gown away and was spotted from afar in the marquee! At one point I thought people were going to start asking for his autograph…
As a graduating student, the 10 seconds of fame as your name is read out might seem a bit of a raw deal in exchange for 2 hours watching others do the same. But remember, it’s a rare privilege to go on stage in the Royal Albert Hall, and your parents will be very happy! (Also, there’s sparkling wine at the reception afterwards). It’s a tremendously complicated event, and getting over 1,000 students across the stage in 2 hours, in the right order, is far from easy.
Congratulations to all those involved in making it happen, despite the numb bum it’s a great part of the experience as President.
Tags: graduation
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