GRADS Blog Series – Graduation and the Geese

Graduation is a milestone that every Waterloo student looks forward to and it means different things to each one of them. Unsure of what it means to you? Let us break it down! Over the next few weeks, our “GRADS” blog series will delve into what it means to be a graduate of this fine institution (geese and all).

While we do this, be sure to show your Waterloo pride by using one of our awesome Waterloo-esk banner images as your Facebook profile cover photo. Like the uWaterloo alumni Facebook page now and claim your image.

Graduation

It’s by no stroke of luck that “GRADS” is the acronym that was chosen for this blog series. It’s fitting that the first post delves into graduation – after all, that’s what it’s all about. However, much like walking past a Canadian goose sitting peacefully on her nest – when it comes to graduation, all is not what it appears to be.

Dig into that nest and you’ll find that graduation – which the university officially refers to as convocation – marks the start of a new relationship with Waterloo, rather than the end of one. You’re joining an exclusive club that counts more than 140,000 Waterloo alumni as members.

grads holding a sign that says they will miss the geese

The university becomes your alma mater, a fancy Latin term referring to the academic institution you graduated from. And what about you? Well, you become an alumnus (or alumna, but that’s a whole other post).

This new relationship is one that will last a lifetime and will undoubtedly evolve and change overtime. As a new grad, your priorities in life are likely centred around determining what your future career path looks like, finding employment, working hard to pay off debt, and maybe even finally having some free time to pursue a couple hobbies. In all of these endeavours, Waterloo is here to support you. From career advisors who can help you develop your job skills to a Jobmine maintained exclusively for alumni, the university is here to support and fuel your success. Events and networking opportunities hosted around the world connect you with your fellow grads in fun and informative ways.

Our grads are proud to be Waterloo. You see this every time they tell someone they’re an alumnus. They’re a proud representative of the university, which takes us to the second letter in our blog series acronym. But that’s the topic of next week’s blog post so stay tuned!