Maybe you’ve spent years working hard at UBC, having countless long nights fuelled by dreams of your eventual degree. Maybe you’ve attended a few graduation ceremonies before and over the course of the year it sunk in: pretty soon, that would be you. Maybe you knew someone who was graduating and you were excited to support them at the ceremony. That’s rough, buddy. But even now, a resourceful student can still find some way to celebrate their monumental achievement.
Throw a Zoom party
Some would call drinking alone at home a sad way to celebrate, but if it's during a Zoom call in your dressiest attire, that’s another story. We have all been forced to learn how Zoom works anyway, so you might as well put it to good use. Turning what once was conferencing software into a party platform is a fitting celebration. This is a cheap and accessible option. If worse comes to worst, you’ll still see your friends.
Just do Halloween again
As someone who hasn’t yet graduated, I’m sure half the fun is the dress up. The garments really cement the feeling of a special occasion. If you don’t want to drop $30+ on a graduation ensemble, with some creativity, a Halloween costume can be free. In your own home, no one can stop you from celebrating your graduation while dressed as sexy whatever-you-have-lying-around.
Learn to play the graduation music
“Pomp and Circumstance” is far more often referred to as “that song they play during graduation.” It is ubiquitous. Just the sound of it stirs feelings of accomplishment. You can inspire yourself in that manner by learning to play it on whatever instrument you have. And if you don’t have an instrument or experience, the year is 2020. You can purchase a kazoo for $5, anything is possible.
Nothing can simulate the complete graduation ceremony experience and it is awful that you won’t get a proper ceremony after all of your hard work. We can’t replace the inspiring feeling of a well-written farewell address, though videos with titles like “Inspiration Speech Compilation [2 hours] Long” may come close. Photos from the ceremony can be treasured for a lifetime, and although the graduation Instagram filter isn’t bad, it can’t beat the real thing. These are hard times for all of us, but trying to celebrate won’t hurt.