After 7 years, I am finally finished. I walked across the stage at Comcast Center on May 17. I heard "Summa Cum Laude" after my name was called. I shook Javier Miyares' hand, and a bit later, I moved my tassel from right to left, along with 1,000 or so other graduates of University of Maryland University College.
I thought that I’d make a bigger deal of graduating. It still doesn't feel real. I still feel like I face a long struggle toward a distant goal, and I suppose I do. I just don’t know what the goal is now. In an entirely predictable instance of careful-what-you-wish-for, I’m actually a little depressed that the whole ordeal is over. What to do now?
I hung up my gown and my honor cord and my Phi Kappa Phi medal, and I'll wait for the university to mail my diploma later this summer. I lost the tassel in the parking lot.
