To march or not to march: A fresh grad’s reflection

Janessa Villamera

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To march or not to march: A fresh grad’s reflection
Is the graduation march really necessary?

I had always wanted to do the graduation march. Who wouldn’t? I thought marching was synonymous to a punctuation mark in a sentence. I needed that mark to say that I finished a sentence, so I could go on to the next. But the more I thought about it, perhaps I was meant to write clauses instead.

I’m an Octoberian. It took me shifts and transfers to earn a degree. It was a long, tough ride just to reach the end point, but it was worth the wait. If I were to go to the starting point, I wouldn’t want to change a thing at all.

Like they say, “It’s better to graduate in time than on time.” Lucky for those who ended their 4-year course on time, as they knew what they wanted from the start. That doesn’t work for everyone, though. When you graduate in time, you take the road less traveled on your way to the so-called “real world.” And as the waiting gets longer, the urge to just graduate gets even greater.

The thing is, in most colleges that offer the semestral system, commencement exercises take place in March, so I got my diploma right before my march was even scheduled. Isn’t a diploma enough to say that I’d reached the finish line of college? 

I’ve been in the “real world” for a while already – it took me just 5 weeks after getting my diploma to find a job. I knew where I wanted to be all along; I went back to where I had my internship. So wasn’t it enough that I already had a job even without marching, considering that employment is the next step after college anyway?

Another thing that made me think twice about marching was the graduation fees. It was as if I could only leave college if I paid them off. Students actually questioned these fees due to the lack of transparency behind them. I would be marching in my own college gym filled with makeshift air conditioners and old monoblock chairs,  wearing a rented toga for a graduation fee of P4,500. For that price, I’m sure you could march instead in some fancy venue with high-end facilities. 

My dad said he’d pay for the graduation fees because he believed it was his duty to look after me until graduation, or even after, as I was his daughter. When I told him that I was having second thoughts on even marching, he convinced me to just go on and do it, at least for him. That was when I told myself to do it. 

Everything starts with a choice – to go on or back down. The old adage, “Seize the day,” then, never gets old. When celebrations are set on a specific date, celebrate it that day because it might only happen once in a lifetime. It’s all about appreciating the things each day has to offer. 

My graduation march is now or never. I will march not just for myself but for my family as well, and for those who believe in me. At the end of the day, I suppose marching is a way of saying that I am someone who can finish what she’s started. I earned the right to march and I deserve this chance to feel that sense of fulfillment. – Rappler.com

 

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