“There are few defining moments in life. And it is without a doubt, that graduation is one of them,” said Dr Eunice Cross, Acting President of the Convocation Executive
These words echoed around the room as the newly awarded graduates sat restlessly in their seats awaiting the chance to leave the Great Hall, at Wits University, to celebrate with their loved ones. While they may cross the stage alone to be conferred, graduates say the help of family, friends and their academic mentors was their propellent during their studies.
There is no time more exciting on a university campus than graduation season. This year, from March 26 to April 05, 2024, throngs of supportive families flooded onto campus with multicolored flowers whose beauty came second only to the graduates themselves. The energy was exciting and infectious, and it is easily my favourite time of the year because beyond the struggle, all you can see is the hope.
Though the journey to reach graduation is always fraught with difficulties, Maureen Masedi advised that “You just think of the bigger picture and the end goal”. Sometimes the bigger picture is lost in the inevitable struggles in the pursuit of a qualification.
From academic and financial exclusion to something as simple as missing a bus, the help we need can come in so many different forms. It didn’t take me long to realise how difficult my undergraduate years would be. I had left my entire support structure across the country, and it left my family feeling powerless to help me on my worst days.
After my father passed away in my second year, my mother arranged for his gown to be delivered to me so that I could wear it when I finally finished my degree. It took a year longer than it should have, but having a little piece of him with me made me know that if he could do it in the 1980s, I could do it now.
Though he had previously graduated twice at other institutions, Ambesikhaya Ngobo, from the Wits School of Business shared that “Being an alumni here is a long lived dream.” The excitement he shared with his girlfriend who saw him through his postgraduate diploma expressed untold stories of late nights and unwavering support through them.
Nazleen Plaaitjies stressed that each person she brought to graduation, had been individually called during exam season to pray for her. I still classify my undergraduate graduation as perfect. For the same reason as Nazleen, my family and best friends being present was more than icing, it was the cake itself.
All I know is that if I keep promising to write the name of every person who brought me to graduation on the back of my degree, I will run out of space. My community supported my dreams and for that I will forever be grateful.
FEATURED IMAGE: Ali Masedi, who graduated with a Postgraduate Diploma in Business Administration, taking a photo with his wife, Maureen Masedi, and Kudos Kudus
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