Two Graduations

On Friday, I watched my son-in-law Appolinaire graduate from Northern Virginia Community College. Yesterday I watched my niece Maggie graduate from Johns Hopkins medical school. Two very special achievements, two very different graduations.

The Johns Hopkins ceremony was held at Meyerhoff Hall in downtown Baltimore, home of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. The NOVA graduation was held at the outdoor concert venue Jiffy Lube Live, where you can hear Dead & Company or Wiz Khalifa. 

The Johns Hopkins event was only for Ph.D.'s and M.D.'s, so everyone was hooded. The NOVA event was only for associate degrees and certificates, so no one was hooded.

At Maggie's graduation, the newly minted doctors rose and recited the Hippocratic Oath, which Maggie's sharp-eyed great-aunt noticed did not include the phrase "First, do no harm." (That's because those words aren't in the Hippocratic Oath.) 

At Appolinaire's graduation, the dean asked graduates to "rock this house" as they answered a series of questions she posed to them. Questions like: How many of you were born in another country? How many of you speak a language other than English? How many of you are the first in your families to go to college? It looked like three-fourths of the graduates rose and cheered each time. I know that Appolinaire did.

What struck me most, however, was how in the deep-down important ways, these ceremonies were the same. The graduates grinned just as broadly, the families whooped and hollered just as loudly and "Pomp and Circumstance" (as usual) brought a tear to my eye.

An accomplishment is an accomplishment. I'm so proud of them both!