So you’ve finally got the degree. Your mam is over the moon. You can finally put on your ridiculously extra graduation robes and stand proudly in front of the arches for a photo with your nan. Your graduation is a culmination of years of hard work, stress and tears and it’s a day you’ll probably remember for the rest of your life, so I hope for your sake it goes off without a hitch.
Having graduated last year all I can advise you to do is take tonnes of pictures, make use of family members being willing to buy you free drinks and try put your oppressing quarter life crisis out of your mind for one day of true celebration. It’s safe to say you deserve it.
For me, Newcastle has been a city filled with happiness. I have loved the four years I’ve spent here with amazing people, drinking cheap pints and only ever so often complaining about the rubbish weather. I hope that your time at Newcastle has brought you the same happiness, and that today at graduation you can reflect on the memories you’ve made on this here campus.
Image: Newcastle University Students' Union
Post-graduation I wish you the very best with your future, whatever that may be. But before you move onto the next step take a minute to sit and reflect on what you have achieved here in the last three years at Newcastle, because it’s a hell of a lot. Feel proud of yourself and cut yourself some slack.
As I’m sure many of you will be doing, I myself am saying goodbye to Newcastle in the next couple of months to move onto somewhere new. I’d like to thank you for the opportunity to stay in this wonderful city for an extra year and create this newspaper with an amazing team of people. It’s been a blast and I will be eternally grateful for this opportunity.
I’m sure post university when all is said and done my heart will begin to ache for the likes of Soho’s blue trebs, weekend trips to the Baltic, strolls through Jesmond Dene and the many people who have made my time here so memorable. But after four years I really believe that all of us have a home to come back to in the friendliest city on earth and I know for a fact I’ll take a little piece of it with me wherever I go, even if it is just saying mam rather than mum from now on.
Your time at Newcastle may just be one piece of a puzzle and with your graduation day you are officially putting that piece into place. I really do believe the future holds so many possibilities for us all. For many of us it’s officially time to full embark into adulthood but don’t panic, you’ve got a whole summer ahead of you to create a LinkedIn and start begging your friend to verify your leadership skills.
So for just for today, be happy and carefree. Enjoy your friends and family around you and celebrate your time here at Newcastle. Pray that you don’t fall over on the steps and that the weather holds up, and I reckon you’re good to go. So, go put that robe on, grab a camera and a beer and become a Newcastle University graduate.
As Editor of the Courier, Louise Hall presented awards to those who had made an outstanding contribution to student media at the Media Awards
Image: NUSU