I had to stop by the Registrar’s Office in Lentz Hall this afternoon to take care of a couple of things, and was surprised to find a swarm of students in the lobby of the building – an uncommon sight anytime but especially at 4:00 in the afternoon. It turns out that I was right in the midst of “Gear Up for Graduation,” an event they have been holding for the last couple of years in which some of the nuts-and-bolts of graduation get taken care of well ahead of the fact. . . things like picking up your cap and gown, getting your official graduation portrait taken (each student wearing their gown and holding what appears to be their diploma, although I’m pretty sure they weren’t handing out the real thing today) and other such matters. I guess it’s optional for seniors to do this; if they much prefer, they can wait until later in the spring to do all of this, but the school prefers that as many students as possible beat the rush by participating in this event. It was interesting to feel all of the excitement in the air, almost as though it were graduation day itself – and in some ways this was better because it was some of the excitement of graduation without the sobering fear that will be part of the real day for most of these seniors. Think about it- what a time to be graduating from college and confronted by the worst job market in decades. If I were these seniors, I would be in no rush whatsoever to get out of here. . . but even given all of the uncertainty out there, I got the distinct impression that at least most of these seniors are excited to embark on the next chapter of their lives, even if the particulars of that next chapter are far from certain.
Anyway, walking through this crowd of seniors – some of whom were dressed in cap and gown as they stood in line for their portrait – I caught sight of Brianna Voss, a really talented musical theater major . . . and evidently a senior who will be graduating in May. It must be a sign of my “old age” that time seems to be hurtling by ever more rapidly and I find myself having to say goodbye to someone that I feel like I greeted for the first time the day before yesterday. And Brianna is someone whose singing I have so enjoyed over the last several years and it makes me sad to think about her moving on. But I’m pretty sure that keeping students around forever would make it tricky to be able to welcome new students aboard each fall (I’m no math major, but I’m pretty sure I’m right about that) so I guess the one has to happen for the sake of the other. But even knowing that makes it no easier to bid farewell to Brianna or to Beth Hughes, another student who I did not expect to see at this afternoon’s event but who was there nevertheless. She is a transfer student, so it has not been four years that she has been on our campus. But she is done, and barring something unexpected – such as me flunking her in my opera class – she will graduate in May. And we faculty members will be bidding bon voyage to her and to her classmates – fully aware that this is how it has to be – fully aware that exciting young new students are even now preparing to begin their Carthage careers – but none of that changes the essential reality that teaching means having to say Way Too Many Goodbyes – and although once in a great while there will be that obnoxious or infuriating student who can’t leave quickly enough for you, most of our students (at least in music) are great human beings with whom we develop powerful and affectionate bonds – and who manage to make Saying Goodbye to them a terribly painful ordeal.
So anyway, if there’s anything I like about Gearing Up For Graduation, it’s that it gets me and my colleagues to think about these impending farewells ahead of May – although honestly, even having two months to get used to the idea is probably not going to make saying goodbye to Zach or Ben or Brianna or Beth any easier – at least not for mushy-hearted Greg Berg, who really needs to develop a stiffer backbone when it comes to such things.