Friday was the last day of the semester. For me, it was the finish to two consecutive 70 hour weeks of non-stop testing, grading, office hours, emails, and all of the other aspects of being a college instructor. The last day of the semester can be very amusing - final grades are due into the registrar at noon, but half of us gave finals on Thursday and are frantically scurrying to finish. I was lucky. I had my grades turned in by 11am. As I was walking across campus to turn in the forms, I saw other instructors practically skipping with relief. One actually screamed, "I have my receipts" - reference to the forms we receive upon turning in our grades. Yay!

Then I return to my office, where I am greeted by several emails from students eager to know what grades they earned. Poor traumatized students.

Commencement exercises were held Friday night. Getting a bunch of giddy-with-relief-that-grading-is-over instructors all dressed up in academic regalia to stand in line and behave is difficult, at best. But I do enjoy commencement. I grew up with the bias that universities were better than community colleges, and I was curious to see what commencement at a two-year school would be like. Friday night was my second commencement, and it was the same as the first - well-attended, happy, and full of accomplishment. The stands were filled with happy friends and relatives, and the students all looked so proud when they received their degrees.

In many ways, the completion of an associates (two-year) degree is as large an accomplishment as obtaining a bachelors. So many of these students are working full-time, raising families, returning to school after a long absence...As their teacher, I'm proud of them all.

Discuss Semester is over!