Graduation

Graduation is the action of receiving or conferring an academic degree or the associated ceremony. In the United States, it is also used to refer to the advancement from a primary or secondary school level. Many colleges have different traditions associated with the graduation ceremony, the most well known probably being throwing mortarboards in the air.

Graduation ceremonies are often orchestrated procedures involving a march of students onto the stage, often to music, and the reading of speeches prior to an official moment when the students are declared graduated. In United States colleges and universities one of the ceremony speakers is a famous alumnus of the institution.

See also

• Academic dress