Since my internship ended last March, our graduation ceremony was finally held this April. I have no idea why it took place a full year after we finished our studies. Perhaps they were waiting for most students to find and complete their internships and defend their internship reports, or perhaps they were waiting for students at the other schools in the group to complete the same process. Besides EPITA, this education group (IONIS) also includes schools such as EPITECH, ISEFAC, and IPSA. In any case, the entire auditorium was basically full, because in addition to the students, invited family members and friends were also there.
Yesterday’s schedule went like this: admission and seating began at 1:15 p.m. Invited family members and friends sat in a different section from the graduates. We went to the section for our respective programs and sat wherever we liked. A graduation gown and cap had been placed on every seat. The ceremony officially began at 2:00 p.m. The host guided us through the program, and several administrators and student representatives were invited to speak. Then students from each school were called onto the stage by graduating class and department. Before we went up, each of us was given a sheet of paper representing our diploma. We shook hands with the administrators, and then a large group of us stood onstage while a photographer casually took pictures of us with a phone and some lighting equipment.
The graduation ceremony ended at 4:30 p.m. We went outside the auditorium for a reception and collected our official diplomas while we were there. I have to say that the whole event was extremely disorganized. First of all, there were no signs indicating exactly where to collect the diplomas, nor were there signs at the end of the line distinguishing between different schools and programs.
It is hard to describe how I felt yesterday. Rather than feeling that I had accomplished something, I felt more of a sense of emptiness. Seeing so many graduates seated in the auditorium, I understood why so many of my classmates still had not found a job a year after finishing their internships. When I saw classmates I used to know well, apart from smiling, greeting one another, and saying “congratulations,” there did not seem to be much to talk about, because everyone has their own life and their own difficulties.
More than yesterday’s “going-through-the-motions” graduation ceremony, I remember walking home after defending my internship report a year ago. I suddenly started laughing and said to myself, “J’ai réussi, j’ai réussi. (I did it.)” The joy I felt then was earned through countless days and nights of hard work and study. It was not the validation of a diploma, but a dual affirmation—both from myself and from the outside world—of all the effort I had made.