By Kohar Bayizian
Graduation can be called one of the scariest events we have to face as human beings, but it has become a part of life. And with June around the corner, the anticipation of graduation day is slowly coming to a boil.
People call it a commencement ceremony. I think it’s because graduation does not mean the end of something, but rather the beginning. But if this is true, why is graduating such a scary thing?
Maybe because it signifies change, which is something not everyone is willing or able to adjust to.
Or maybe it’s that we have become so comfortable in our high school surroundings that to get up and leave, when you finally feel so relaxed, seems ridiculous.
Students spend the majority of their days at their elementary, middle and high schools, so these places can become a second home for some of us. And no matter how much you think you hate your school, you are going to be sad that you are leaving it.
This is when that scary “this is really happening” feeling begins to muster in our stomachs. When we realize that all of a sudden this world will no longer exist and we are going to be forced to adjust to yet another one.
We have been studying in such a familiar environment and are now going on to something that is so much greater and, if you can imagine, even stranger than our high schools. We are going to be thrown into a sea of swarming college students and will drift through the halls and campus of a different school.
We are going to be even more insignificant in our colleges than we were in our high schools. Each of us is going to be just one of thousands, and it should be our duty to make ourselves known.
The main purpose of college is to better educate ourselves. We shouldn’t think of it as a way of paving the road to the good life, but the road to making a better world. Some people just drift through the motions, but I suggest you, just as the Dodge commercials insist, “Grab life by the horns.” You have to set goals.
Henry Ford once said, “Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off your goal.” I think he was trying to say that the second you take your eyes off what you are trying to reach, you see all the things that try to deter you from it. But if you just keep focused, nothing can stop you.
So, maybe college isn’t as scary as it sounds. If we look at it through a different light, we can see that it is something that will help us become who we really are.
You have your high school diploma, so all you need now is courage. Be brave.
